Liverpool have stepped up their plans to tie down Philippe Coutinho’s long-term future by opening talks over a new contract.
Coutinho’s current deal with the Reds will expire in summer 2020 and has attracted interest from a host of Europe’s elite clubs, with Barcelona heavily linked.
The Spanish champions remain the forerunners in the battle to prise the Brazilian from Anfield while Paris Saint-Germain saw a £23 million bid rejected last summer.
But Coutinho is now in negotiations with the club’s hierarchy over a more lucrative terms in a bid to stave off interest from Europe’s elite sides.
Attempts to lure the player away from Merseyside have been hampered by the absence of any buy-out clauses in his current deal.
Jurgen Klopp issued a firm hands-off warning earlier this month to clubs considering a move for the 24-year-old.
He said: “We never had any ideas or plans or any talks about him leaving, because he is our player.
“There are no other ideas, nothing has changed.
“It would be nice if big clubs forgot about a player completely because he’s been injured for five or six weeks.
“Big clubs don’t think in this way unfortunately. It was not a big injury so there was no question of him not being the same player afterwards.
“I’m not sure it’s like this though, but he is our player and that is it.”