Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he was stunned by Liverpool’s summer spending spree that saw them splash out a staggering £450m on new players.
The reigning Premier League champions broke their transfer record twice ahead of the new campaign, acquiring Florian Wirtz for £100m before surpassing the British record to sign Alexander Isak for £125m.
It acted as a departure from the transfer philosophy preached by Jurgen Klopp during his nine-season tenure at Anfield, with the German previously stating that Liverpool “cannot compete” with clubs like Manchester City “who can do what they want financially”.
Speaking on Steven Bartlett’s The Diary of a CEO podcast, Klopp explained that he never knew Liverpool had the capacity to spend so much.
“I had no clue that this is possible,” he said. “Nobody ever told me that it’s possible that we can spend like that.
“My last year at Liverpool, we obviously (had) the Adidas deal, the new stadium, all these kind of things - they earn more money. But never ever I could have asked for that amount of money, but that’s not a problem. In that time it was not there, no problem at all.”
Klopp, who guided Liverpool to a first Premier League title in 30 years as well as a sixth Champions League during his glittering reign, does not regret that the club chose to sometimes sacrifice his transfer budget to vastly improve the infrastructure of the club.
“I love the fact that we were as successful as we were and built new stands and built a training ground, because we talk now about a transfer window in the way you want to talk about it, spend a lot of money, but there’s no discussion about the stands and no discussion about the training ground,” he added. “They are second to none. The training ground and the stands are wonderful.
“In the same place where Anfield is, they could build pretty much a new stadium without leaving the old one, so that’s a fantastic story. And that will stay forever.”
Arne Slot’s side have come under fire in recent weeks after going on a four-game losing streak, with the majority of their big-money signings – arguably only excluding Hugo Ekitike – struggling to settle into their new surroundings.
Liverpool’s £225m duo Wirtz and Isak have inevitably been the target of much of the criticism, but Klopp has insisted that the club’s investments will come good.
He said: “Isak is an incredible striker. Florian Wirtz, you will eat your words if you use the wrong words. He is an incredible talent. Ekitike is an incredible player. It’s a really, really, really good squad.
“If the young centre-half (Giovanni Leoni) doesn’t get injured, it’s a perfect squad. Now he’s injured, that doesn’t help. But besides the centre-half position, it’s a perfect squad. Two super left-backs, a really super-right back. That’s how you set a team up.
“Now you have to deal with the situation. They’ll all think they have to start the game but that’s a normal job. You’ll have this discussion of who will start in week or two, and then in the third week one is injured and you’re happy that the other can start.
“That’s the world a football manager is living in. We don’t have to worry about Liverpool. They will be fine.”
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