Speaking exclusively to the Liverpool Echo, Jürgen Klopp has outlined the Reds transfer policy and why it is unlikely we’ll see a repeat of last summer’s spending in excess of £170 million.
“It’s not easy,” he admitted. “I said last year that to improve the team is not easy with reasonable money. With crazy money, you always can do it – okay, you pay whatever you want, then it’s possible.
“We are not a club like that. We cannot do that. We are really wealthy but we cannot do what some other teams are doing. That’s how it is.
“But we don’t have to. We have to find solutions during the season. Yes, you find sometimes the solution in the transfer market and we have done that. I don’t have to name the players, everybody knows.
“But otherwise you have to find the solutions on the training ground and that’s what we do now.”
A European Cup and an impressive Premier League campign in the 2018/19 season showcased the star performances of full-back pair Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, plus Alisson’s standout, debut season, and exceptional solidity at the heart of defence with Virgil van Dijk.
That, plus, midfield steel and ingenuity, and, of course, the outstanding Roberto Firmino, and Golden Boot winners Mo Salah, and Sadio Mané, has given Klopp a welcome, if difficult, issue going forward.
How do you improve on a team that achieved 97 points and won the Champions League?
Of course, the German is as much as a coach as he is a manager and has always demonstrated his ability and enthusiasm for developing the players already at his disposal.
With a glut of midfield talent and one of the best back lines in world football, it is perhaps only the departing Alberto Moreno who might need to be replaced with a senior deputy (if the injured Yasser Larouci, or, indeed Adam Lewis, fail to quite make the grade).
Equally, the notion of a versatile attacking addition to provide cover for the front three continues to be mooted.
It remains to be see what will happen, but if Klopp is confident he can find solutions to any problems that arise from within his own squad, we’ll have to trust his wisdom.