Jürgen Klopp on LFC's summer transfer plans
Jürgen Klopp has explained why incoming transfers are not the only way Liverpool can improve upon their exceptional 2018-19 season so far when work begins on preparing for next campaign in the summer.
While the manager admits the Reds will always firmly keep an eye on the market, he is not anticipating a busy window of new arrivals.
He told journalists during his pre-Huddersfield press conference: “It is always more difficult the better the team gets [to improve it], but that’s a good sign.
“Transfers, we are not there to excite the people out there and think, ‘Wow, a new player!’ and stuff like that. Actually, the job is to improve the team and there are different ways [to do that], we’ve said that always.
“It’s about training – actually, I think that’s the best way to do [it] and if you have to sign somebody, you sign somebody. Then, if you have him then you don’t think immediately about doing the same thing in the same position again.
“The team is pretty well balanced, so that’s how it is. For sure, our plans are not for the public, that’s how it is. But will it be the biggest transfer window of LFC? No, probably not, but I think it would have been a surprise if I said yes.
“Our eyes are always open, we always look, but what happens if and when, there is nothing to say about in the moment.”
A fundamental factor in Liverpool’s development under Klopp has been the acquisition of players who’ve slotted seamlessly into the squad.
One reporter asked the boss what the key was to making sure the right signings were obtained.
Klopp replied: “We were patient enough and made a few smart decisions, but we are not where we want to end. Yes, we are in a good moment, that’s true, but we are not here to think too much about what we did, that it happened and the work [we put in], I am not interested, really.
“We did every day what we thought was right to do, that’s the truth. Now we are here, it is all because of the players – the boys did outstandingly well, constantly pushing their own limits onto the next level, so that’s the truth. That’s what we try to show them, [that] it’s possible.
“It’s not important what people think about you, [but] it’s really important what we think about us and how we can improve and all that stuff. After a season, if you listen to the public then it’s like you have to sell 15 players and bring in 15 players, or if there is any good striker out there then you have to buy him otherwise you don’t make your business and stuff like that.
“You have to be calm in these situations, just to trust your own feelings and your own decisions and then it can work – it depends extremely if the decisions are right, obviously, but that is only proven during the season.
“We were lucky with the signings we made, we were working hard – how everybody can expect us to do. Obviously, there is still one team with a point more and that’s not exactly how it should be, but we respect that for today but from 10 minutes on we will work on how we can close that gap as well.”