It would be understandable if Liverpool fans were already starting to feel a little defeated regarding the Reds’ upcoming summer transfer business ahead of the window opening on June 14.
Having missed out on Champions League qualification for the first time since 2016, after controversially deciding against strengthening their midfield last summer, Liverpool are already facing greater scrutiny in comparison to recent years.
Their decision to withdraw from the race to sign Jude Bellingham in April will have done nothing to ease such anxiety. Meanwhile, the same can be said of suggestions of Man City potentially joining the race to sign Alexis Max Allister, and Mason Mount reportedly favouring a move to Manchester United rather than Anfield.
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It is clear that, without the lure and riches of Champions League football, it could well be a little bit more challenging for Liverpool and newly-appointed sporting director Jorg Schmadtke this summer.
Yet Jurgen Klopp is adamant that a lack of Champions League football won’t be detrimental to the Reds’ transfer plans.
“It is not about that (Champions League football),” the German told reporters in mid-May. “When I talk to a player, if I am allowed to talk to the player which is rarely the case to be honest, but in the moment where you are allowed to talk, you realise in his eye, but then it is already clarified.
“We cannot tell anybody in the moment that we will definitely be in the Champions League next year. So if he is talking to us then it is probably already clear that he knows about that situation.
“It is just a general thing. I think if you join a club, it’s not that you want to reach something together with the club or not. What the club created before is one thing.
“It is obvious that we have to fight for being part of the Champions League and to fight for trophies and if you want to be part of that you are more than welcome.
“There is only one thing which we cannot guarantee this year and that is Champions League football but all the rest is still the same as it was before. It is a fantastic club with a really, really good football team and an even better one, hopefully, probably, next year. That’s not so difficult.
“I have barely faced a situation where you are in talks with a player, everything sounds great, then at the end he says, ‘Okay, now see you if…’ That happens, not really often.
“It is still Liverpool, we are really attractive for a lot of players and should not forget that. That’s why I’m not concerned by that fact.
“Everything is more difficult without Champions League, that is how it is. Especially in the long term, we should not do these kind of things more often.
“But apart from that, it’s absolutely okay the situation we are in. From a talking point of view and a convincing point of view.”
Meanwhile, the German even went as far as to say he had no interest in players only motivated by playing in the Champions League back in 2016.
“If I would speak to a player now and he would tell me: ‘if you were playing in the Champions League next year I would be really interested’, I would put the phone down from my side,” he insisted in April 2016. “I am not interested.
“I always tell players if when you are 35 or 36 and look back on your career and you think about the one year when you didn’t play Champions League then you are really a poor boy. There are so many things you can do and reach if you go together with the team.
“You can qualify for the Champions League, play Champions League, maybe win it or whatever. It is a much more satisfying thing than all the rest. That is what I would say. It is pushing the train, not jumping on the running train. That is what we need here.
“If somebody says: ‘No, you don’t play Champions League next year’ then goodbye and thank you, have fun next year wherever you will be. We will find players or we have players already that will go our way. That is not my way, that is the normal way for a club not playing in the Champions League.”
Klopp’s signings at the time would indeed qualify for the Champions League in 2016/17, before going on to win Europe’s elite competition two years later. Meanwhile, the search for players willing to ‘push the train rather than jump on it’ is a sentiment the German has repeated again this season.
Of course, if Liverpool miss out on Mac Allister or Mount, after the pair emerged as the Reds’ main targets following their decision to not move for Bellingham, onlookers will perhaps scoff at Klopp’s claim.
Yet Fabinho has perhaps helped ease such fears, sending the perfect message to Liverpool transfer targets when recalling his own move to Anfield in May 2018.
“At the end of 2016/17, after we won Ligue 1, several big clubs made offers for me,” the Brazilian recalled to the Players’ Tribune. “A lot of the other guys left and I was expecting to go too.
“But in the end, the club wouldn’t budge. I stayed. And thank God for that, because the next season, another team got in touch....Liverpool.
“Liverpool weren’t the only club that made an offer that summer. There was another team in England I could’ve chosen, but it’s simple really: After you speak to Jurgen Klopp, you don’t want to hear anything from anyone else. It’s like, ‘OK, thank you, I’m coming to Liverpool!’
“We met in England and he explained his vision, how the team played and how important I would be. I didn’t even understand what he was saying. I didn’t really speak English back then, but it didn’t matter!
“Fortunately, they brought someone along to translate. But even without a translator, you just understand his positivity. I was nodding my head, 'Yes, boss!' before they even told me what he was saying.
“He’s done amazing things for this club, but honestly it’s hard to talk about how good he is because for us as players it’s normal. His methods, preparation, team talks, decision making … he does everything with excellence and we just expect that from him every day. There is no other Klopp.”
Admittedly, Liverpool were already a Champions League club when Fabinho joined, with the Reds confirming they had reached an agreement with Monaco just days after their 2018 final loss to Real Madrid.
Yet, his point still stands and the lure of Klopp remains at Anfield.
The Reds don’t boast the endless riches of some of their rivals, and won’t be able to offer Champions League football next season. But they can still offer the opportunity to work with their charismatic German leader, who turned doubters into believers and transformed Liverpool into champions of England, Europe, and the world.
If you sign for Liverpool, you sign for Klopp. You are buying into his vision for the Reds’ future, and his ability to take his side right to the very top. He’s done it before, so, after a season of transition, why not again?
After all...“After you speak to Jurgen Klopp, you don’t want to hear anything from anyone else. It’s like, ‘OK, thank you, I’m coming to Liverpool!’”
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