Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Liverpool made an attempt to sign a midfielder earlier this year before seeing the transfer target join another club.
And the Reds boss admits he is wary of adding the wrong player to his squad before Thursday's transfer deadline as he explained how his current first-choice is unavailable at present.
Liverpool made checks on Aurelien Tchouameni at Monaco earlier this year only to learn the France international had his heart set on a move to Real Madrid prior to completing a deal worth around £85m. Borussia Dortmund, meanwhile, have dismissed the prospect of losing Jude Bellingham this summer as links to Anfield go on for the England star.
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Klopp said he was more than happy with the set of midfielders at his disposal earlier in the summer, prior to a succession of injury problems for Naby Keita, Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones, who has at least returned to training this week.
And while Klopp says he would like to bring in a fresh face before the September 1 deadline, he accepts players of the desired quality are not readily available this late in the window.
Klopp said: "The situation is the following: we started the season with nine midfielders and every aspect was in; creativity, speed, excitement, young players, technique, runners, fight, stuff like this. Whatever you wanted, it was all in.
"They all have contracts and then you start a pre-season and when a player with a one-year or two-year contract comes in and [hypothetically] says: 'I didn't play often enough last season, I want to go' in that moment, they go. But the one thing that we actively push people out and say 'you are cut out now, what you did was great until last year but now we don't like you, so go'. We are not like this.
"So it means we had all different aspects of a midfield game. You all told me - you are the ones who ask the questions - do I need a midfielder? A 10th midfielder!? I am not sure, but we were going for a midfielder who decided to go to another club, which can happen.
"So at that moment it's now not like this 'oh we can't take him, so let's see if we can take another one'. Some players are not available at this moment but for us, it's really interesting. That's how it is.
"Now we can make a decision if we bring someone in, is it the right one? I'm not 100% sure. Short-term? probably yes. Long-term, I am not 100% sure. What does that mean for the next transfer [window]? All these things are going through my mind.
"That is how our life is. We cannot just push the button, say 'bring him in' and we worry about all the problems it could create next year or later on. Yes, then we get injuries and all of a sudden it looks like, oh yes, we need a midfielder, definitely.
"We always wanted [a midfielder] but it was always about the right one and we cannot change that just because of some things. Yes, more injuries but that can change a bit and then we say that we can do this now and maybe that would help next year as well. It must always be short and long term and this didn't happen yet, that's it."
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