Jurgen Klopp found himself disagreeing with Jurgen Klopp and Jurgen Klopp accepted Jurgen Klopp had been wrong. Or, to put it another way, the Liverpool manager has changed his mind. In 2016, he had said he would not spend £100million on a player – “The day this is football, I’m not in a job anymore” – and in 2023 Brighton accepted Liverpool’s nine-figure bid for Moises Caicedo. If Klopp has changed, so have circumstances: Seven years ago, he was discussing Manchester United’s world-record purchase of Paul Pogba. Now Liverpool have made a British record offer for Caicedo.
“Everything changed,” Klopp said. “Do I like it? No. Did I realise I was wrong? Yes, definitely.” ‘Everything changed’ might serve as a summary of Liverpool’s summer, except that the revolution remains in progress. Liverpool have a new captain, a new vice-captain and a new midfield, even if there is no guarantee Caicedo will be a part of it: It remains very possible the 21-year-old will join Chelsea and probable he would prefer to. It is also feasible that Liverpool’s summer-long pursuit of Romeo Lavia will instead bring the Belgian to Anfield, though they feel a £50m asking price is steep for a teenager whose lone season of first-team football culminated in relegation.
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Caicedo, though, is proof everything changed: not just over several years, too. A few months ago, Liverpool abandoned their pursuit of Jude Bellingham, deeming him too expensive, but Brighton may bank as much for the Ecuadorian as Borussia Dortmund did for the Englishman. Liverpool are no strangers to swift moves for players, but normally earlier in transfer windows and always for lesser fees. If everything first changed in Liverpool’s search for a defensive midfielder when Henderson and Fabinho were headhunted in Saudi Arabia, it did again when Klopp tried to hijack Chelsea’s bid for Caicedo.
“I would love to talk about it,” Klopp said. “If someone tells me it is done and dusted then I would talk about everything, but we just don’t know. The deal is agreed [which] is one thing, but so many things in this crazy world can happen. But if our owners really stretch it then that is a super, massive commitment.”
Liverpool have been run to a budget under Fenway Sports Group, but there have been occasional massive commitments: Alisson became the most expensive goalkeeper in the world, Virgil van Dijk the costliest centre back. But each was seen – and proved – a transformational signing. Each was also part of a long-term plan, whereas Liverpool had to rapidly rewrite their strategy this summer.
Liverpool face competition for Caicedo from Chelsea (Zac Goodwin/PA)— (PA Wire)
“The situation for us was we knew who will leave,” said Klopp. They were supposed to number four: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita, James Milner and Arthur Melo. Then came the unexpected interest in Fabinho and Jordan Henderson. “Four were more or less planned and two were like, ‘ooofff...’ but it is fine,” Klopp said. Suddenly the rebuild was not just about the attacking half of the midfield but the defensive half. Liverpool had activated release clauses for their first two summer signings; they have no such option for targets like Lavia and Caicedo and have spent pre-season looking in need of a holding midfielder. Everything has moved at head-spinning pace.
And so Liverpool start the campaign at Stamford Bridge on Sunday with new signings feeling like old news. A clash with Chelsea is the Caicedo derby or the Lavia derby, given the Londoners have also bid for the Southampton player. It will instead be a debut for Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai who, when a third signing is made, could comprise an entirely new, and distinctly young, midfield. The 32-year-old Thiago Alcantara is the only midfielder left over the age of 24; he received no offer from Saudi Arabia and, his manager said, will be more vocal in the absence of other experienced players.
Whether Caicedo arrives or not, Liverpool will be more reliant on Thiago, pictured— (PA Archive)
He was the midfield’s designated flair player. Now Mac Allister and Szoboszlai have assumed those duties but will be charged with adding the physicality Liverpool lacked at times last season. Klopp has given the Argentinian and the Hungarian anglicised nicknames. “We brought in Macca and Dom – really good players: speed, everything you want to have. Speed in mind or speed in legs or both. Technique, passing, overview; everything is there. It is not the biggest squad in the world, that is true, but we had to make a decision in our situation. Do we go for quantity or quality? The only chance we really had was to go for quality and then we have to stretch things.”
Liverpool have stretched their budget and defied most expectations with the Caicedo bid. They have entered the world of the £100m footballers, a territory Klopp thought he would never visit. A product of changing times or an act of desperation? The word of warning came from his 2016 self. “If you bring one player in for £100m and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney,” he said seven years ago. And even now, £100m may not be enough to get Caicedo.
