Press conference'It was obviously a good idea to sign Naby and Thiago'

Thiago produced a masterful display during Tuesday night’s 4-0 win over Manchester United at Anfield, while Keita was part of the side that powered past Manchester City in the Emirates FA Cup semi-finals three days earlier.

Both have featured consistently in Klopp’s midfield rotation as the Reds chase three more trophies to add to the Carabao Cup they lifted in February.

The manager was loathe to tempt fate when asked about the pair at Friday’s pre-Everton press conference but did detail why he is so pleased to have them at the club.

Asked about Thiago’s latest performance, Klopp told the media: “Yes, it’s great, but I don’t like to talk too much about one player – not because a player doesn’t deserve it but always when we do that then something happens with a player.

“So I leave this room and then I hear, ‘Thiago feels a little bit here or there.’ Yes, it was good, now let’s carry on.”

On Keita, the boss said: “It is the same situation, I don’t like to talk about it because it’s exactly the same expectation from my side, that I go outside and somebody tells me Naby cannot play.

“But when Naby was fit and Naby could get some rhythm, he was always really good. Unfortunately, he could not get as much rhythm as he wished, we wished, in the past. Maybe that’s over now [touches wood] and then the future is bright for him. He is a great player, wow.

“Both [are]. Naby is here for four years. The year before, Keita and Thiago were the best midfielders in the Bundesliga by a distance. So we took first Naby and a bit later Thiago. So it was obviously a good idea.”

Thiago has made 30 appearances this season, his second with Liverpool since joining from Bayern Munich in September 2020.

Klopp was also asked about suggestions from the time of Thiago’s arrival that the Spain international might ‘slow the play down’.

“People were questioning if he suits our football? Thank God these people don’t make decisions! Really,” he replied.

“If a player is calming a game down in moments, due to a lot of reasons, one of them is just to have a look. It is of course nothing we thought. More important, Thiago wanted to join us and he knew how we play; he’s a real football person, he thinks a lot about football and he knew how we played. He knew he would fit in and we knew it as well.

“It is all about, in this case, always about being fit, staying fit and getting used to the slight differences to the former club, whatever these kind of things are in different teams. Then you can go from there. It was always clear.

“Thiago had only one problem, he was injured – and it started with an Everton game. That didn’t help. But there was never a question about whether he would suit [Liverpool]. We only signed him because we knew he would help us.”