In both a literal and figurative sense, Liverpool's summer rebuild is starting to take real shape.
After a season of underperformance that resulted in the lowest finish of any of Klopp's seven full terms as manager in fifth, much of the discourse in recent weeks and months has been of a Reds squad in need of a restructuring, particularly in the midfield ranks where James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have now departed as free agents and Arhur Melo has returned to Juventus.
But while that engine-room metaphor has been stretched to breaking point with regards to the work Klopp and his recruitment team need to undertake in the transfer window, there's also a more tangible building project that is picking up pace at Anfield right now as the club gets set for something of a new era.
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The Anfield Road development project is now into its final weeks before Liverpool formally open their new-look stadium with a 61,000 capacity. The £80m rebuild will add a further 7,000 seats to the iconic venue to help the Reds play host to their biggest crowds in decades and the speed at which the work has been done has been impressive to those who have regularly seen it up close in the last 18 months or so. It will take the total spent on infrastructure at Anfield in recent years to close to £200m following the £110m Main Stand completion in 2016.
The final whistle of the final home game of the campaign against Aston Villa on May 20 marked the start of summer-long construction plans that will see one of the most renowned stadiums in world football re-open in August with a vibrant new look about it. Cranes currently populate the pitch as the roof is taken off the Anfield Road end to make way for a new one.
And in so many ways the summer schedule is a critical one for Liverpool as a club as they aim to both complete the Anfield expansion in time for the new campaign in the same timeframe those on the football operations side of things are tasked with doing what's necessary to ensure the absence from the Champions League is only for one season.
In the recruitment department, momentum is gathering as the Reds close in on their first signing of the summer in Alexis Mac Allister of Brighton. Liverpool made the Argentina international a primary target after taking the decision earlier this year to step away from the chase for Borussia Dortmund's £130m-rated Jude Bellingham.
The existence of a clause in Mac Allister's contract should make the negotiating process simpler with Brighton and Liverpool are hopeful of making the 24-year-old their first signing of the summer before he heads off to international duty for the World Cup winners when they meet Australia on June 15.
From there, attention will then likely turn to further midfield reinforcements. Mason Mount has been a long-standing target but it appears as though the Chelsea midfielder is edging closer to Manchester United.
Southampton's 19-year-old midfielder Romeo Lavia has his admirers as does Wolves' Portugal international Matheus Nunes, while respective reports in France and Germany last week linked the Reds to Nice's Khephren Thuram and Manu Kone of Borussia Monchengladbach. Bayern Munich's Netherlands international Ryan Gravenberch is another who is said to be of interest.
With new sporting director Jorg Schmadtke initially joining the club on a short-term arrangement, there is little time to waste for the German to make his mark at Anfield and with Klopp keen to wrap up his business as early as possible, a proactive and aggressive pursuit of key targets is expected throughout June before the squad report back to duty in July.
July 8 will mark the first day of pre-season training at the AXA Centre with Klopp's players set to be whipped into shape with the now infamous lactate test.
The test involves the Liverpool players running full out while getting from one pole to the next before the whistle is blown, usually by famed drill sergeant Andreas Kornmayer. The length of time between whistles shortens with each interval, meaning the players need to run faster each time. Players also have blood drawn out from their ears to check their lactate acid levels during the exercise and it is typically a challenge that sees Milner come out on top. The squad will be able to toast to a new victor this summer, however, following the veteran's departure.
Liverpool then fly out to Germany for a pre-season training camp that will see the work turned up several notches. In a change in traditional scheduling, Klopp has taken the decision to visit a European-based camp before the more commercially-driven jaunt to Singapore, which is more lucrative but a less taxing exertion from the players' perspective on the training pitches.
Having seen early-season injuries to the likes of Diogo Jota, Ibrahima Konate, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita last year, Klopp is determined to ensure the risk of a repeat is reduced, so his players will be undergoing arduous double sessions in the Black Forest in mid-July before the long-haul flight to the Far East. It's all designed to build up a strong base fitness level for the squad as a whole as they attempt to bounce back firmly next season.
As the ECHO revealed last month, the Reds will play two friendlies in Germany against Karlsruher and Greuther Furth. Those dates have now been confirmed as July 19 and 24, with the second game being played behind closed doors. Two more friendlies then await Liverpool in Singapore against Leicester City and Bayern Munich on July 30 and August 2, both at the National Stadium before the Reds return to Merseyside.
Klopp is keen to have one final local-based friendly before the curtain is raised on the 23/24 term but Liverpool have made a request to the Premier League to play their first game of the new campaign away from home while the finishing touches are placed on the Anfield Road end.
The ECHO understands a friendly at Preston North End's Deepdale stadium is under consideration as a result as Liverpool look to end a busy summer with one final exhibition match. From there, the serious work really begins for Klopp and his players and the Reds will learn their away-day fate on June 15 when the Premier League fixtures are made public.
Before then, though, Liverpool have much to do both on and off the pitch as a major summer for several departments continues.
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