Jurgen Klopp was today asked about his role in Liverpool’s transfer committee, but the German reminded reporters that there’s no difference in the set-up here than at any other club.
The question was raised due to Brendan Rodgers’ recent appearances on television, where he stated he had players forced on him during his Anfield tenure.
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“When the owners are wanting you to go down a route and there’s no other option, you give it a go,” the sacked manager said on Sky Sports.
Instead of complaining, Klopp explained that transfers are a complicated process – and aren’t simply a case of him telling the club which footballers to purchase.
“Does anybody have the final say? For example, say I wanted to take Zlatan Ibrahimovic and we have to pay £100m plus a big contract at 35… I think I would have to ask first!” he joked, intimating that budget constraints obviously play a role in deciding his targets.
“Sometimes my staff and I have an idea about a player, then we collect information and then we have players our scouts bring in and we speak about it,” Klopp continued, reported in the Echo.
“If I don’t want a player to come here then he will not come.
“If a player I want doesn’t fit our budget then he will not come to.
“It’s a normal situation.”
While Klopp openly discussing Ibrahimovic initially pricked our ears, he’s not actually telling us something he didn’t when he first joined the club – and definitely isn’t confirming Liverpool’s interest in the PSG superstar!
Rodgers’ recent comments deflect some of his Liverpool’s failures on the players that were signed and eventually let him down, but it’s good to see that at this early point – Klopp isn’t interested in that. He knows how transfers work, and had a brilliant record while at Borussia Dortmund in the market as a result.
Of course he cannot simply handpick world-class footballers from around the globe to create the perfect football team – he has to mould something, improve current players and blood youngsters.
We’ll have to wait until the summer until we see something properly exciting from the new management.