Jürgen Klopp has pledged his commitment to Liverpool regardless of who owns the club but has claimed Fenway Sports Group are seeking fresh investment rather than a complete sale.
The Liverpool owner’s decision to enlist two major investment banks, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, to oversee a sales presentation on their behalf has created uncertainty over the club’s future, although FSG have no immediate plans to sell their majority stake.
Klopp, who signed a new four-year contract with Liverpool seven months ago, said he was relaxed about the situation and agreed with FSG’s decision to seek fresh investment. Should the search ultimately lead to a full sale, however, the Liverpool manager insisted he would remain committed to Anfield until 2026 as scheduled.
He said: “We knew about it a bit longer, their thoughts, and I don’t 100% understand why people are all saying it gets sold. What I read was they are looking for investors and that makes sense. A good idea, I like that. It didn’t distract the preparation [for Wednesday’s Carabao Cup tie against Derby] at all.
“The players didn’t ask me but if they want to ask me I can tell them everything. For me it means nothing. Whatever happens, I really like how we work together with our owners but if that would change I’m committed to the club, obviously. As far as I know, they are looking for investors and I thought that makes sense.”
FSG’s search for investment and to assess the potential value of Liverpool follows the sale of Chelsea this summer in a deal worth up to £4.25bn. But Klopp believes there is no similarity between FSG’s position and that of the former Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich, who was punished by the UK government following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“First and foremost Chelsea got sold, that’s how I understand it,” Klopp said. “They [FSG] are looking for investors. The situation is completely different: Chelsea had to get sold because their owner was in trouble. Let me sum it up like this, there was a bit of urgency in the situation. We don’t have that here – not at all.
“For me it is important while the process – whatever it is – is happening we keep going and keep planning. These type of things take time, I’m not an expert in this, but whatever happens – and if someone comes in or whatever – until then a lot of things can happen and in that time we have to keep going. Not only football-wise, in between as well and I will make sure that will be the case. That is all.
“In the moment nothing happened, it is just news which we knew and no one had a heart attack when we got the news and thought: ‘Oh my God, how can we carry on?’ It’s a decision and it’s fine. We work really close together with FSG, it was a great relationship until now and it will not change. Whatever happens we will see and we will deal with it.”
