Sir Alex Ferguson has slammed Philippe Coutinho’s transfer saga as ‘disappointing’.
Liverpool rejected the Brazil international’s request to leave earlier this month following a series of unsuccessful offers by Barcelona to land the playmaker.
A ‘definitive’ statement from the Anfield hierarchy insisted that Coutinho would not be sold at any price despite the Catalans’ fervent interest in him.
The 25-year-old has yet to feature for the Reds this season due to a combination of a back injury and illness but trained with his national side earlier this week.
Manchester United legend Ferguson set aside his previous rivalry with Liverpool when fielding a question on Coutinho at UEFA’s coaching forum in Switzerland.
He said: “I think strong management is crucial in this situation.
“Part of your job as a coach also is to educate your players’ character so they have a responsibility to what they’re doing. Obviously, in some cases, that is changing a bit.
“It’s disappointing because I’m sure that, in the case of Liverpool, they did a very good job in making Coutinho the player he is today.
“So, it’s a bit disappointing but you have to deal with it and the transfer window doesn’t help in that situation.
“If it closed in July, Coutinho would have continued playing and it would have been gone. The matter would have been over,”added Ferguson.
“The recommendation we look at is to close the window before the season starts, so everyone knows which players they’ve got and aren’t waiting to see what the first results are going to be.”