Barcelona are prepared to pay up to £140m for Philippe Coutinho and hope the staggering sum, the second highest transfer fee in history, will tempt Liverpool to sanction the playmaker’s sale this month.

Liverpool have yet to receive an official bid from the Spanish league leaders in this window but are braced for Barcelona’s fourth offer in total, having rejected three approaches last summer. The Anfield club have in mind a base figure of around €150m (£133m) for the Brazil international and Barcelona’s determination to sign Coutinho in January is expected to surpass that figure. Jürgen Klopp, with the backing of Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool’s owner, will then have to decide whether a sale is beneficial to his club.

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Coutinho, whose representatives have continued to explore the possibility of a January deal between the two clubs, is increasingly hopeful that the proposed terms will break the impasse. Barça’s third offer last summer was €130m but included €40m in add-ons, a package insufficient to break Liverpool’s resolve to keep the 25-year-old.

In contrast to last summer, however, Liverpool have refused in recent weeks to declare that Coutinho is not for sale. Klopp was again circumspect on the forward’s future on Thursday. Coutinho’s continued desire to move to the Camp Nou has overshadowed Liverpool’s impressive start to the year and their buildup to Friday’s FA Cup third-round derby against Everton.

But the Liverpool manager, who will be without Coutinhothe 25-year-old for the Cup tie because of a minor thigh injury, refused to be drawn on the future of his influential playmaker before Barcelona’s next move. “There is no moment in January when I will talk about this, that’s how it is,” said Klopp. “If anything happens to any player, Phil or whoever, and if something happens, we can talk about it but not before. The summer was a different situation. Now it is like it is … still rumours, Nike, other people. In the moment there is something to say I will say it. Before that I am not part of the discussions.

“Really, my first job is to prepare the healthy fit players for the next game. That is my first job. I am not the chancellor of Liverpool FC and have to talk about all the other things before saying: ‘By the way, can we play football as well?’ We play football. If nothing happens I will not talk about this until 31 January and then it might not be interesting any more.”

Klopp’s reference to Nike concerned a false advertisement on the company’s website on Saturday, also linked to Barcelona’s official website, announcing Coutinho’s arrival from Liverpool. The link was quickly deleted and Liverpool are taking no action against Nike, Barcelona’s kit supplier and a Coutinho sponsor.

“What can I say about Nike?” asked the Liverpool manager. “I do not know any person from Nike to tell them it is not OK you do something like that. It is not my cup of tea. I am not interested. I am interested in what we do that is best for us. That is all. And all the stories around? You can not imagine how cool life is when ignoring them. They are not important. In football, and in the world of news, the next day they will chase another pig in the village, as we say in Germany. You talk about this today and tomorrow something else.”

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Despite his reticence on Coutinho’s possible transfer, Klopp said he expects the Brazilian to be fit for Liverpool’s next Premier League game against Manchester City on 14 January. He also presented Liverpool’s form this season as evidence his team are not distracted by Barcelona’s dogged pursuit of their player.

The Liverpool manager added: “They are professional football players. Sometimes they are in the middle of the story and sometimes they are sat next to the guy in the dressing room who is in the middle of the story. These young boys are used to this from a really early age and are used to ignoring things around them. If they are smart enough they ignore most of it.

“All the stories around are no problem. This story is not around since yesterday. It has been around since the summer and did you at any moment get the impression this team is distracted because of transfer rumours? No. We are focused on what we have an influence on. All the rest we have to ignore.”

Klopp confirmed Mohamed Salah will also miss tonight’s derby through injury but the world’s most expensive defender, Virgil van Dijk, could make his debut following his £75m move from Southampton.