Manuel Lanzini had been a target for Liverpool (Picture: Getty)
Manuel Lanzini had been a target for Liverpool (Picture: Getty)

Liverpool’s hopes of signing West Ham playmaker Manuel Lanzini appear to be over after Slaven Bilic confirmed the Argentine is not for sale.

Philippe Coutinho handed in a transfer request at Anfield last week and Barcelona have since confirmed they’re ‘close’ to signing the Brazilian.

Jurgen Klopp will be desperate to bring in a replacement and Lanazini, 24, is highly rated by the German coach.

Coutinho’s move to the Camp Nou – should it go through – would earn Liverpool around £100million and they could reinvest in an attacking midfielder and a central midfielder.

Coutinho looks set to join Barcelona (Picture: Getty)

However, Bilic says Lanzini is not for sale and will stay with the Hammers this season.

‘No, I am not worried [about Lanzini leaving]. I got it from the papers, the news. That’s it,’ said Bilic.

‘But, I said it last week when we spoke about it before Man United game. I speak to Manu every day and he is very happy. He really feels at home here, he feels wanted.

‘You can see it, you don’t have to talk to the player but you see he is smiling, he is happy. He broke into the Argentina team, he got a call-up for the September games so he knows that if he plays for West Ham I have a chance to improve, sign a better contract with West Ham and play for Argentina. He is very happy.

‘I don’t want to set a price tag on him, I am sure he is going to stay with us.

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