Jürgen Klopp discusses LFC's transfer plans
Jürgen Klopp is expecting a quiet end to the January transfer window for Liverpool, with no further activity anticipated before the deadline on Friday evening.
The Reds added Takumi Minamino to their ranks on January 1 after reaching an agreement with Red Bull Salzburg, while Rhian Brewster and Nat Phillips departed on loan and Allan Rodrigues de Souza moved to Atletico Mineiro in a permanent switch.
Those deals, Klopp confirmed, conclude the club’s business during the current transfer window.
He told a press conference at Melwood: “Incoming nothing, outgoing nothing I heard about, but it doesn’t mean it could not happen.
“No, you can leave Melwood after the press conference to calm down, having a nice evening or whatever, or go to another place where it is more exciting!”
Despite no further activity planned for the final hours of the current transfer window, Klopp detailed how the club continue to discuss and plan longer-term strategy, including potential new incomings.
“Nobody gets relaxed, to be honest - absolutely nobody is relaxed in the moment,” he explained. “Yes, we are not really busy with transfer decisions for this period, for this moment, but we are constantly in talks, exchanging ideas and thoughts about what helps us in the long-term.
“Being not busy in the transfer window doesn’t give you the opportunity in this business to be relaxed. I sit here and so far we didn’t speak a word about Southampton, which is my main concern for some very good reasons.
“I am not sure, were we busy last year [January]? The year before we brought in Virg… that was good, but we have him already and so we cannot sign him again! Most of the time, I was not really busy in my career in the winter transfer window but we did some good things.
“The better the season is, the better the squad is, the less you have to do, the more you are happy with the players you have, which is always the plan in the summer, that you don’t have to be too busy in the winter. Injuries can change these ideas a lot - and we had injuries, but most of the players are back or coming back, so these are our transfers.”
With Liverpool sitting 19 points clear at the summit of the Premier League, unbeaten in 41 top-flight matches, reporters asked Klopp about the difficulties he faces in looking to enhance his squad.
And the manager outlined why that process isn’t just about searching for new talent externally.
He replied: “[It’s] not easy, but is it possible? We will see, I don’t know exactly. We just prepare potential situations.
“We always try to strengthen, but to strengthen could mean as well a look in our own squad, who can make the next step, who is ready for doing that, and who will hopefully not be injured and that means he can make next steps as well.
“Ox and Naby had some little injuries here and there, cost them a little bit of rhythm, but we all know about the quality of them. Curtis now came on in the last game and looked pretty promising, so these are talks we have where we try to estimate the future.
“We believe we can do a lot with this existing squad, that these boys can still make next steps - and as long as you can make the next steps, you are in the right place and they just have to make sure they do them as well.
“A squad like this, to improve easily would be really strange. It needs to be 100 per cent the right player, or we do it internally, or we do it internally and externally as well. All possible.”
Liverpool are set to field several of their Academy prospects in Tuesday’s FA Cup fourth-round replay with Shrewsbury Town at Anfield.
On whether their involvement in that fixture curtailed any potential loan moves, Klopp said: “Maybe, I don’t know, it’s hypothetical. It’s not now that nobody will go [because of the replay].
“These boys developed here and there are a lot of different ways how you can develop talents. Sometimes, if it’s the right moment, a loan is a good way to do it. But the boys, some of the them were now often in our training and that really helped as well, they played games in U23s, really good games, and developed a lot. In the beginning of the season, they struggled a little bit but now they are really there and even if we take four or five players away, it’s a good level.
“If they are all in and play all together, then it’s a really nice team to watch. That’s one part as well how you can develop talents and that’s what we try. This game now on Tuesday is, of course, for them.”