Klopp sends firm Keita transfer message with Liverpool replacement admission

Jurgen Klopp has told his midfield star Naby Keita: 'You're going nowhere'.

The Liverpool manager is adamant it would be impossible to replace the 27 year old before the transfer window closes - and that means he simply won't be allowed to leave. Keita is said to be unhappy about a failure to reach agreement over a new contract, and with just a year left on his Anfield deal, there have been reports in Germany of strong Borussia Dortmund interest.

Liverpool cashed in on Sadio Mane, who was in a similar situation at the end of last season - selling him to Bayern Munich when they refused to meet his £350,000 a week contract demands.

But the manager insisted there is no chance of that happening with Keita, even though he could command a big fee, after arriving at Anfield for £52m. "Selling Naby now? And not replacing him? No, that is not possible! Of course not. But it is not the plan," he said.

"We are done (in the transfer market), it's not that we think a player can go and we don't replace him. There's no chance. No. Naby will not go but if he would - but he will not do! - then there must be a replacement of course, it's clear. And yeah, sure, it would be very difficult to replace him."

Klopp has come under fire from some sections, even of his own support, for what is perceived as a lack of fire power in the midfield, with Thiago, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all currently injured. But he insisted he "has what we need", and explained that there will be no new faces before the window closes - as he waits for the right target…not just any target. "Yes (we have what we need), when they are all fit, 100 percent, but even then we always look to strengthen…but it must be the right player," he said.

"And if the right player is not available then we tend to say 'ok we deal with what we have before we sign a player who is not 100 per cent the right player. Right. So this situation never changed. Now we have more injuries than we would have imagined, and now would be cool to have a new midfielder in, of course now. And then there would be another fact: we are not in charge of what we spend, we are not. That's the situation, we get things told and then we deal with it. It was always the same, never different."

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Meanwhile, midfielder Fabinho claimed Liverpool are ready to kickstart their season against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday night. "We know this is the biggest game here in the Premier League and it's always good to play these games because the fans always want to win so it's good for the morale as well," Fabinho said. "We need to win. We will go to Old Trafford with the mentality to win the game so we have some days to work before this game and we will work, and hopefully be in the best shape to play against Man United.

"This is a good opportunity for us as well to win three games in a row at Old Trafford. The last game was really good for us with the 5-0 win, for Mohamed Salah especially, so hopefully this last game will bring good memories for the team [to help us] play another good game at Old Trafford and win.

"I think we started the season in the best way possible with winning the Community Shield, but in the Premier League it wasn't the start that we want. Of course we know that the start of the season is always important, it's important to start winning games, but this wasn't the case so we started with two draws. It's still the beginning of the season but we know that we need three points as soon as possible so the game against Man United is a really good chance to get back to winning."