Jürgen Klopp on Liverpool's January transfer plans
Jürgen Klopp insists he has no plans to sell any member of Liverpool's first-team squad in January.
With the opening of the mid-season transfer window now just a month away, Klopp was asked about potential departures from Anfield during this morning’s press conference to preview Sunday’s trip to Bournemouth.
“The funny thing is that you and your colleagues create stories which are not stories and then you ask me about a story which is not a story!” the Reds boss replied.
“What can I say about this? There’s absolutely no idea or no thought to sell any player of the first-team squad actually. I don’t think it would make sense to.
“But I am prepared for January, for all the things you could ask in January. It will be funny, I’m sure!”
Tuesday’s EFL Cup victory over Leeds United saw Academy prospects Ben Woodburn, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ovie Ejaria impress.
Continuing on the theme of transfers, Klopp was quizzed on whether that trio’s ability and potential could lead to him re-evaluating his plans to bring players in from other clubs during the next few windows.
“We don’t have to change anything because we never forget them. It’s that simple, they are involved in all our plans, not only the three lads now,” he said.
“I don’t know exactly when you stop being a young player, but in my opinion, 22, 23 is still a young player - 12, 13 years to go in your career. We have a lot of these boys in the club.
“We need to create a situation where they can come through, where they are ready in the moment when we use them. There will be some ups and downs for sure, but if you are under the right circumstances and at the right club then everything will be good at the end.
“We have no doubt about the potential of these boys. With a little bit of luck, lot of training, a lot of education and attitude, you can get a decent player, I would say, and that’s what we are all working on.”
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It was put to Klopp that the development of talent from Kirkby could mean he does not need to spend big in the transfer market.
“But probably both will happen! We have to buy players and hopefully bring some players through, that’s how it is,” the manager said.
“I cannot say now that the LFC team of 2020 is only home-grown players - it would be nice but would be not too nice for the players from the actual squad who are still in a good age.
“So there will and needs to be a mixture of all of that, but the first thing and the important thing [is], and I have no problem to talk about them - they have time, but they need the time too. So it’s our job to give them the time they need.”