Gary Neville has stated his belief that Jurgen Klopp 's success at Liverpool over recent seasons stems from a trait he shares with legendary Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
Klopp has restored Liverpool to their place at the top end of the Premier League table after a drought of 30 years without a title. Much of the Reds' success since Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers as manager has been down to their transfer business.
All but a handful of Klopp's strongest starting line-up were bought by the German, including star attacker Mohamed Salah and defender Virgil van Dijk. Their success in the market continued in January with the signing of Luis Diaz from Porto.
The Colombian winger has been a revelation since arriving at Anfield, scoring four goals in 17 appearances. He has been a key part of Liverpool's storming run that has seen them revitalise their Premier League title fight, with Manchester City currently ahead of them by just a point.
Liverpool had to fight off competition from the likes of Tottenham in order to bring him to Merseyside. And Neville believes that the "conveyor belt" of talent that Klopp has consistently brought to the Reds is reminiscent of Ferguson's time at United.
"Liverpool acted [to sign him in January] because Spurs were probably going to nip in; they were probably going to wait until the end of the season. Now Liverpool have got five strikers that are genuinely world class. All five of them are, honestly," he told Sky Sports.
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"Roberto Firmino has been one of my favourites for the last five or six years. I know he's the one that is understated and the one that is underrated at times, but for me, he has contributed unbelievable amounts to the performance levels of the club in terms of how he has dove-tailed.
"I always think of players that I appreciated at United so much that maybe didn't get the headlines, but were so important to how the team connected and how the team glued together - I think Firmino has done that. He's still there and he's performing well at this moment in time.
"Diogo Jota has been a sensation from the moment he signed; the other two are world stars: Mo Salah and Sadio Mane. And Diaz looks like a star of the future which, actually, in some ways, takes a little bit of the pressure off the Salah situation, that they have got someone there ready to come in. That's what great clubs do, they have a conveyor belt.
"What Sir Alex Ferguson did for many years was get the next one ready so that no one was holding the club to ransom. Great clubs don't just build for three years, they have that next player to come in and that's what Liverpool are doing here."
Diaz scored once and assisted another in the hammering of United on Tuesday night. He will hope to keep his place in the side for the Merseyside derby against Everton on Sunday, with the Reds looking to keep the pressure on City.
