JURGEN Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has revealed that Rangers can have Ryan Kent, the Anfield winger who spent last season on loan at Ibrox, but only if they sign him permanently.

Steven Gerrard has admitted he is keen to take the 22-year-old, who was named PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year after a string of outstanding performances in the 2018/19 campaign, back to Scotland.

However, Klopp, whose Champions League winners were defeated 3-0 by Napoli in a pre-season friendly in front of a crowd of 65,442 in the capital yesterday evening, won’t allow the £8 million-rated player to leave on loan again.

The German feels the former England under-20 player, who missed the Napoli match due to a virus, can only progress if he signs for another club after spending temporary stints at Coventry City, Barnsley, Freiburg in Germany, Bristol City and Rangers in the past four years.

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The news is a blow to Gerrard as the asking price for Kent, who has featured extensively for the English giants during pre-season against Bradford City, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Sevilla, is likely to be too rich for Rangers.

Klopp admitted that working under Liverpool legend Gerrard at Ibrox had been hugely beneficial to Kent, who has publicly stated that he would like to move to Rangers, as a player.

“It helped a lot,” he said. “He came back and he was a completely different player. When he left, it was a very important year and it helped. Good manager, really good club and good competition so for him it was exactly the right thing at the right moment.”

Asked if he would be prepared to allow Kent to go back to Rangers, Klopp said: “If Rangers can buy him. His time is over I think for giving him on loan. At an age like this, players need to find a place where they can settle. That’s probably the moment, but we will see. A loan is not on.”

Meanwhile, Klopp, whose Liverpool team defeated Spurs in Madrid in at the start of last month to win the Champions League, has admitted that he would like to see the Edinburgh venue, which is the home of Scottish rugby, host a major European football final in future.

The crowd was the biggest to watch a football match in Scotland since the Scottish Cup final between Celtic and Rangers at Hampden back in 1989.

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“Could we play a Champions League final here?” said Klopp. “One hundred per cent. If Liverpool were involved, it would be a nice game. It felt like a home game actually.

“Outside, I didn’t see too much because so many people were around, but inside it looked like ‘no problem’. It’s a stadium that is ready for big events - 100 per cent. It’s not so far away from a couple of other stadia that we have used in the last years.”

Klopp was missing Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri once again yesterday and stressed he was unconcerned about the performance of his Liverpool team against Napoli. “I never had a situation like this without six players making a complete pre-season, it’s just strange,” he said.