EPL

Klopp not surprised rivals 'don't have limits' in transfer market

By Sports Desk August 13, 2021

Jurgen Klopp is not surprised to see Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United spend with "no limits" and says Liverpool can be successful living within their means.

Champions City forked out a British record fee of £100million for Jack Grealish, while Chelsea smashed their club record when they re-signed Romelu Lukaku for a reported £97.5m on Thursday.

United have also splashed the cash with a £76.5m move for Jadon Sancho and Raphael Varane is poised to complete a big-money switch to Old Trafford ahead of the 2021-22 season.

The Reds have recruited Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig for a reported £36m, while Virgil van Dijk on Friday followed Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Fabinho in signing new deals.

Manager Klopp has no problem with a lack of new faces as his rivals make big statements in the transfer market.

He said in a press conference on the eve of Saturday's Premier League opener at Norwich City: "I'm never surprised about the financial power of City, Chelsea or United. I've been in the country long enough to know they always find a solution to do these things.

"For us, it's our way. We keep the team together, that's important as well. I know it's not as exciting as signing new players.

"People think that if you don't sign, you don't work - that's not the case. We are constantly thinking short term and long term - what can we do? How will the team look this year and next?

"I know it's not as exciting, but if you're a real Liverpool fan you're excited about the news the club delivered in the last few weeks - Allisson's new contract, same with Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Virgil van Dijk. Others will follow, so that's great.

"It's not as spectacular but it's great news - if other teams wanted to sign these players they'd have to pay a lot of money and we have them already. We have a good squad together and are in a better situation than we were last year. Let's try to build on that and see where we end up."

Klopp also took exception to a reporter questioning why Georginio Wijnaldum, who joined Paris Saint-Germain after his contract, has not been replaced.

"You tell me if you would sign a midfielder and tell me the name and I will think about it," Klopp said. "That would be really interesting.

"We can count our midfielders and you tell me if we need to replace Gini Wijnaldum. So we have now Henderson and Thiago have been not really been involved in the pre-season, we've played quite a few games now with [James] Milner, Naby Keita and Harvey [Elliott].

"We have another midfield that I think played the same game that is [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabinho and Curtis Jones. Curtis is another player who can and will sure make the next step. 

"Apart from the year in which we sign Ali and Virg it always looks like we don't sign enough [players], but we work constantly on improving the team and part of it is signing new players.

"The most important thing, and I think our fans appreciate that, who is fun to watch, who is exciting to watch, who is fighting together, who is definitely 100 per cent committed to the club and the values of the club?

"We have that, so let's fight with all we have but we cannot just add players to the squad and say 'let's have a look what works' because we have to deal with the squad the whole year. If somebody wants to leave or leave, we have to think do we replace them or not?

"With Gini it's like that, we have two players who are not new, but can make the next step in Harvey and Curtis. And Naby can make the next step, he had an exceptional pre-season. We cannot just ignore that.

"We cannot compare to the other clubs, they obviously don't have any limits, we have limits but we were quite successful with having limits in the last few years and that is what we should try again, not using it as an excuse.

"If we don't win again we will not say 'it's because we did not have him or him', that will not be the case. We want to use our resources; that's passion, a good way, desire, a clear plan, direction, flexibility.

"That's our football, let's see which is the right way. We cannot spend money we don't have, at least we cannot, maybe others can, be we cannot."

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