Jurgen Klopp has insisted there IS a way Liverpool can remain in the title conversation - this season and beyond - even without the oil-riches of the world’s state-backed clubs.
The Reds are fighting desperately to cling on to the coat-tails of Abu-Dhabi owned Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, as they fell off the pace with a spate of injuries and illness in December.
Yet the arrival of Luis Diaz on deadline day, and the return of Mo Salah and Sadio Mane from AFCON duty and exciting talent Harvey Elliott from long term injury has seen many suggest this is the strongest squad in club history.
And Klopp explained that the key to Liverpool’s “success” in the transfer market is creating the right environment for new signings to flourish. "There is no secret here, but our transfers have to hit the ground [running].
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“We can't make a £40million or £50m signing and say if they’re not playing it’s not important. As we say in Germany, we don’t 'swim in money'.
"It's a wealthy club, but the policy is clear: we spend what we earn. If we earn more, we can spend more and if we earn less, we spend less.
"So it’s very important we have to do absolutely the right thing… we have to think once about it, twice, three times, four times and if we have to think about it for a fifth time it might be that the player goes to another club and we cannot change that.”
Klopp’s due diligence has been illustrated once again with the signing of Luis Diaz, who looks a steal at £37m, with former Red Marko Gruijic, a team-mate at Porto, asked about his character and behaviour.
Yet as Diogo Jota illustrated so well with two goals this week, sometimes Liverpool spot things others don’t. No other big clubs were in for him, even though the Reds valued him at £45m.
The same with Andy Robertson, Fabinho, Salah, Mane, even youngster Elliott, and so many others. So how do they ‘game’ the system so consistently? “It's about timing as well,” Klopp explained.
“I am 100 per cent sure a year later Diogo Jota would have had offers from other top clubs. It is similar to Mo, if he had played another season at Roma, then there would have been other clubs in for him as well.
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"So it is about timing, and what you need at that moment, and the most important thing for a transfer to work is that the team they join is in a good place. It helps massively if the new signing doesn't have to come in and change the world on his first day.”
With Mane, skipper Jordan Henderson, Divock Origi and Joe Gomez returning to the squad for this weekend’s trip to Burnley, Klopp now has a full squad… and a selection nightmare, with big players left out on matchday completely.
But he will need all those players with the club chasing trophies on four fronts, and Klopp said even his stars must accept it: “You are not allowed to lose confidence if you don’t play… they have to make sure that we as a group use a strong squad in the best possible way.”
