Jurgen Klopp has backed up Florentino Perez’s prediction that it is unlikely there will be many blockbuster signings in the upcoming transfer window.
The Liverpool boss claimed that he won’t have a lot to work with in the market, as they look to reel in newly-crowned Premier League champions Manchester City.
Klopp has been linked with a move for the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Jadon Sancho, but he has forecasted that the top level players are unlikely to go anywhere in what promises to be an unusual summer.
“The market will be really strange,” he told Sky Sports. “I hear a lot about big-money moves, is Mbappe going or not? Haaland, Sancho, these kinds of things.
“I don’t see that happening a lot this summer because the football world is still not in the same place it was before.”
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez made a similar assessment in the immediate aftermath of the collapse of the European Super League.
Perez was the driving force behind proposals that was set to provide a huge financial boost to the 12 founding members – which also included Liverpool.
However, with those plans up in smoke, the Los Blancos chief claimed there is little chance of the game’s top players being on the move.
“When money does not flow from the rich clubs to the poor clubs, everyone suffers,” he said last month.
“It’s impossible to make signings like Mbappe and Haaland, in general, not just for Real Madrid, without the Super League.
“If we don’t sign Mbappe this summer, I don’t think any fan will shoot himself in the head. They know we’re doing our best, and if things don’t happen, it’s because they’re impossible.”
Since the ESL’s initial announcement last month, fans of Premier League clubs have pointed to the ‘50+1’ model of club ownership. Should that happen, Klopp has warned supporters that transfer budgets would be immediately slashed.
“People talk about changing the structure completely, like the German model. Well, I can tell you the budget will go down massively.
“Having more say in the club, changing the structure and the ownership model, and then at the same time signing Haaland for £150 million? That doesn’t work together.”
As for Liverpool’s own transfer issues, Klopp admitted that an usual financial climate, twinned with the threat of missing out on the Champions League, could make things more difficult.
“It is always how it is. What happens depends on the business, if someone wants to leave, if we sell, stuff like this. That’s why we can never really plan early,” he added.
“If we don’t go to the Champions League [next season] it is not good but there is still a chance. But if not, then we have to deal with that.”
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