Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool are striving to create circumstances that will ensure Philippe Coutinho wants to stay at Anfield beyond this season.

But the Anfield manager says his side should be judged on their yearly progress rather than whether they can realistically catch and keep pace with Manchester City to win the title.

Barcelona will continue their pursuit of the Liverpool midfielder, who had a transfer request denied in August.

Klopp was asked if an informal agreement is in place to allow Coutinho to leave next summer in a situation that would echo Luis Suarez’s career path.

Suarez was eventually allowed to move from Anfield to the Nou Camp in 2014 a year after a transfer request – in his case wanting to join Arsenal – was rejected.

“I’ve no clue. We will see. We don’t talk about things like this,” said Klopp. “Can you imagine what it would be like if I said 'yes we have an agreement'?

“In this moment, the 100 per cent truth is that nobody thinks about this. We don’t talk about it, why should we? In both cases it would not make sense – no, there is no agreement, yes, there is an agreement. It is not important in the moment. We have other moments when we have to talk about these things but not in October.”