Jurgen Klopp has lamented how sky-high transfer fees have increasingly become the norm as he urged Liverpool fans to forget the cost of new signing Darwin Nunez.
Nunez this week linked up with his new club for the first time after a summer move from Benfica that could eventually cost the Reds a club record £85million (€100m).
Six years ago, Klopp suggested he would quit football if he bought a £100m player after Paul Pogba moved to Manchester United from Juventus for that amount.
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And when reminded of those comments and how much the transfer market has subsequently changed, the Liverpool boss said: “A lot, obviously a lot. These kind of things happen. When you want to sign a striker as exciting as Darwin is, that’s the market and you have to pay the price.
“I said so many things in my life and life caught me then later and showed me that my imagination was obviously not clear enough for how quickly life can change. That’s how it is.
“After that (comment about Pogba), we bought a centre-half for quite a decent fee (£75m for Virgil van Dijk), we bought a goalie for quite a decent fee (Alisson Becker for £65m).
“Our situation is always the same, we try to level it somehow (with sales), the things we invest in the boys and in the players we sell, it’s kind of that it’s not going out of any kind of range and that worked so far, but I know, I heard it immediately.
“I forgot that I said this but everybody reminded me and then I thought, ‘Oh, okay, yeah...’. I’ve said worse things in my life, to be honest, but that’s one of them.”
Nunez made his first outing for his Liverpool when playing the final half-hour of Tuesday’s 4-0 friendly defeat to Manchester United in Bangkok.
The Uruguayan missed a chance late on to score which subsequently went viral on social media mocking the new Reds man.
But Klopp said: “I am not worried at all. The general judgement is 0.0% interesting. And it will be like this, and we all know it’s a joke or a game for some people to pick out some situations where a player is not doing well.
“The only really important thing first and foremost is how I judge the situation for the player. I couldn’t be more calm about it. I am completely convinced about his potential.
“Liverpool supporters in the whole world should know now after a while that new players need time and get time, and we should be the first – all Liverpool supporters on this planet – who just delete the fee we paid. Just delete it, it’s not important.”
Klopp added: “It is my responsibility to help Darwin that he can fulfil his full potential. And I am in it. I am in that responsibility. I’m completely calm.
“I know with strikers it is like this, he missed a chance and then we have these nerves, people out there saying ‘Oh my God, he missed a chance.’ I can promise it will not be the last, for no striker in the world. They will miss chances, that’s how it is. Having them is good. And from there we go.
“Really, with half a football brain you don’t doubt the potential of Darwin Nunez and now we have to help him that he can fulfil that as quick as possible. That’s all.”
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