Jurgen Klopp has explained the reasoning behind the spending spree that has helped transform Liverpool's fortunes.
The Reds won their sixth European Cup at the start of this month to mark a glorious end to a 2018/19 season that had seen them accumulate a club record 97 points, only to be edged out for the Premier League title by reigning champions Manchester City by a single point.
Their rise followed Klopp welcoming over £240million worth of new talent to Anfield in 2018 in the shape of Virgil van Dijk ; Alisson ; Naby Keita and Fabinho – although they also raised £142m from the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona.
Back in 2016 in the wake of Manchester United signing Paul Pogba for a then world record £89.3m fee, the German had spoken out about trying to buy success, declaring: “Other clubs can go out and spend money and collect top players. I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money.”
However, in an interview with German broadcaster ZDF , which was recorded last month but has only just come to light among English-speaking fans following a translation by Tom Weber , Klopp has lifted the lid on the major outlays that have taken place at Liverpool .
He said: “Back when I was in Germany, Bayern had a 'bottomless pit of money', like £100m.
“In today's market, that gets you one centre back. So this bottomless pit of money is enough to buy one player in today's world and that doesn't even cover their wages!
“The market has changed more than I expected, but I stand by what I said.
“Maybe things were lost in translation but my point was: 'If we reach a point where football is solely about money and not football, then I'm leaving.' And I still feel the same way about it.
“Liverpool is an ambitious club and if we didn't spend the same amount of money as others, we wouldn't be able to compete. Everybody's splashing the cash, so we have to do the same.”
