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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Ian Doyle

Liverpool next transfer may have to break Jurgen Klopp and FSG 'rules'

Jurgen Klopp Liverpool FSG Ben Davies Luis Suarez Mamadou Sakho Ozan Kabak Phillipe Coutinho

Jurgen Klopp declared over the weekend he doesn't take any great pleasure from watching some of Liverpool's main Premier League rivals scrambling about in the transfer window with the deadline looming.

"If I would feel joy in that then I would deserve the injuries we have, to be honest," said the Reds boss. "There's no joy in that the some teams are trying."

Given how busy the treatment room at the AXA Training Centre has become, it could be argued at least someone at the club must be revelling in the panic of Manchester United and Chelsea.

What's clear, though, is the late window - and in particular deadline day - shenanigans so beloved of certain people are very much the antithesis of how Liverpool prefer to do business, Klopp instead an advocate of long-term planning and identifying new signings as early as possible so they can have more time to integrate.

And for good reason. There are now two weeks until business must be concluded until the New Year, and in his previous 13 transfer windows as Liverpool manager only three times has Klopp signed a player during such a late period.

The subsequent fortunes of the trio have demonstrated why the Reds are so reluctant. Two incomings were on the same day in the winter window of 2020/21 when, after Joel Matip joined fellow centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez in sitting out the season, a swift decision was made to bring in both Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak.

Davies, who arrived on a permanent deal from Preston North End, never played a game and is now at Rangers, while Kabak came on loan from Schalke and played 13 games before missing the last month of the campaign through injury. Liverpool declined the opportunity to further their interest.

The only other player Klopp has signed during the closing weeks of the window is Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain on deadline day in August 2017, but even then the midfielder had been tracked for some time with Arsenal finally opting to move him on for £35million once it became clear the player wouldn't sign a new deal and could walk away for nothing at the end of that season.

For clarity, both Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota were signed after the delayed 2020/21 season started but were still snapped up more than two weeks before the window closed in early October.

But it isn't just Klopp who has had some issues with late arrivals. Throughout the ownership of Fenway Sports Group, Liverpool have discovered very few signings made within the last fortnight of the transfer window prove successful.

The two notable exceptions are Luis Suarez and Phillipe Coutinho. The need for long-term target Suarez became more pressing in January 2011 once Fernando Torres made clear his desire to leave, while Coutinho represents arguably the best value buy during the FSG era when signed from Inter Milan for £8.5m two years later.

But that first transfer window under the owners 11 years ago also underlined the pitfalls of buying late, £35m club record signing Andy Carroll ultimately deemed an expensive failure despite contributing some memorable moments.

In the summer window later that year, Sebastian Coates was signed shortly before deadline along with Craig Bellamy, who returned to Liverpool for a single season. The following January, Joao Carlos Teixeira joined shortly before the window closed.

Brendan Rodgers made a habit of leaving things late. In the final fortnight of the summer 2012 window, he signed Oussama Assaidi and Samed Yesil while bringing in Nuri Sahin on loan. The following year, it was Aly Cissokho coming on loan, with Victor Moses following suit on deadline day itself along with permanent moves for Mamadou Sakho and Tiago Ilori. In 2014, Mario Balotelli joined late in the window and the following year it was Allan Rodrigues de Souza. Only Sakho could be regarded a success, and a qualified one at that.

Klopp has been consistent in his belief Liverpool won't be spooked into a move this window unless the right player becomes available at the right price, although the ever-growing absentee list could lead to a necessary compromise. It cannot be ruled out.

But regardless of whether Liverpool are again active before the September 1 deadline, there is one indisputable fact. When it comes to transfers under Klopp, the sooner they arrive during the transfer window the better.

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