Explaining his vision for the Reds, Klopp sketched out the short and long-term plan for the club.
The boss is putting his faith in the personnel he has at his command and seems loathe to buy for buying’s sake. The transfer market is inflated, sometimes meretricious, but now more than ever, seemingly at the forefront of summer discussions.
“We are still looking, but it will not be the (biggest) transfer window of LFC. It just will be a transfer window,” Klopp explained.
“We will see what we do, and if we haven’t done anything by the end it will be for different reasons.
“It’s about using this team. In the transfer window, you have to build a team that you think you want to go into the season with. But I have that team already.
“If we can bring somebody else in that makes it even better, we will see. But if not, this team is already there. And again we will have to find solutions at different moments.”
“You cannot be prepared for everything. You need a bit of luck, and we had a little bit of it in the final part of last season. We came through, won something, and now let’s try again.”
We likely all remember situations throughout last season where solutions had to be found (often creatively) to problems that arose due to absences.
Klopp himself makes mention of a Brighton game that saw Virgil van Dijk partnered by Fabinho after the Reds centre-back options were utterly depleted. Is it ideal? No. Did we win 1-0? Yes. In the end, it was a tenacious, ultimately successful away performance for the Brazilian playing out of position.
In any case, it proves that if absolutely necessary Klopp can solve predicaments through the versatility and, most importantly, ability and willingness, of his players. The German continues on this point.
“Transfer strategy has to be long term. It has to be long term,” Klopp insists.
“Short term covers the problem, but doesn’t solve it. If someone gets an injury, and you buy someone to fill the position and three weeks later the injured player is back, then you have double quality in the same position.
“Having too much quality doesn’t help with the development of players. It’s good for everybody on the outside, because they can say ‘well if he can’t play, then he can play or he could play’.
“If you’re working together all week and then three of the players (of the same quality in the same position) can’t play, they won’t get any better. It’s not just about them staying confident in that kind of situation.
“You have to create a situation where you NEED the player, you need the boys. That’s what we try. We have 100% always long-term plans. That’s what is really good about this football club.”
That necessity is what prompted the signing of Alisson, who we desperately needed to compete at the very highest level. The same can be said of Van Dijk who has utterly revolutionised what was previously a suspect defence in many ways.
Do we need many of the players we are being linked with via rumour and gossip? Arguably not. Sitting in the Anfield hot seat, Klopp is entirely within his right to expound a long-term theory.
Prudence, perspicacity, and pragmatism are the order of the day in a world where knee-jerk immediacy threatens to conquer common sense. With Klopp at the helm, the Reds are future-proofed.