Jurgen Klopp told reporters that he is not interested in players who don’t want to stay with Liverpool, or indeed come to the club, without the Reds being in the Champions League, as reported by the Mirror.
The Merseysiders currently find themselves in unfamiliar territory, loitering near the mid-table for the first time since the German arrived in 2015.
“If a player wants to leave because we don’t play CL then I don’t want him. If a player does not want to come to us because we don’t play Champions League next season, then I don’t want him,” the former Dortmund coach said. “And It is not a personal thing, but it is always like this. You always need to find the right squad for the challenges you face. Then you go for it. It is nothing I worry about.”
Given the unity the Reds boss has cultivated in the squad, it’s an approach that has ultimately paid off over the course of his tenure at the Anfield helm.
While there are reasonable concerns over the quality of player we could attract without membership of Europe’s elite competition next term, we have to still remember that this is the same side that won the Champions League and Premier League in the last three years.
The main barrier to securing top talent in the summer window would be financial, with the club set to face significant losses if we miss out on the top four.
It may then delay our plans by a year, but ultimately we’d expect even an unchanged Liverpool side to still win back Champions League football next term.
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