LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, November 22, 2020: Liverpool’s manager Jürgen Klopp reacts during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Leicester City FC at Anfield. The game was played behind closed doors due to the UK government’s social distancing laws during the Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

Klopp can’t find positives with Brexit & the problems English football faces

Jurgen Klopp is still waiting to hear a realistic positive regarding Britain’s impending exit from the European Union – and has made a good point about the changed rules to signing overseas players.

Come next month, we’d usually be looking to the transfer window as an opportunity to perhaps bring in a talented youngster or boost the squad with a first-team arrival, as we did a year ago, in fact.

Takumi Minamino arrived from Salzburg in January, while young striker Tom Hardy also arrived in the mid-season window.

But there are changes afoot, with new rulings being implemented with regards to signing overseas players, in line with agreed terms with the government following Brexit.

Put to Klopp as to how this would affect the Reds’ plans going forward in the transfer market, the boss clearly doesn’t think it’s a particularly sensible change…which goes for the entire political movement, in fact.

“Brexit, I still wait for the first advantage of it that somebody can tell me, what really improves after Brexit,” he said.

“It’s obviously not my thing to judge or say a lot, but as an interested person I just wait until the first really positive impact of Brexit will show up. Because so far, I don’t remember a lot, to be honest.”

On the transfers specifically, Klopp feels that the focus has been – as usual – on trying to protect future generations of local players and their chances of making the grade, while ignoring what has helped the level of those youngsters improve of late.

In short, it’s an influx of excellent players and coaches they are learning from which has spurred on England’s age-specific sides to some of their greatest all-time highs, such as winning the U20 World Cup in 2017.

“The clubs fought pretty hard for a solution, as good as possible. For me it’s just a decision, without discussions it would have been worse.

“The FA want to make sure clubs don’t sign too many players from other countries because they are afraid that not enough English talents will make their way.

Jurgen Klopp, Rhian Brewster, Harvey Elliott. (Pic by Propaganda)

“[But] if you look at the English youth national teams at the moment, they are in the top two or three in nearly all age groups with the way we did it before [the new restrictions on transfers].

“So let’s think about why: a lot of players around them playing good football, it’s just helpful. We cannot create more talents because we deny other talents.”

It has been well-documented that several relatively recent Liverpool signings might not have been possible to make, such as Ki-Jana Hoever (now of Wolves), Fabian Mrozek and Melkamu Frauendorf, under changed rulings.

Now at least there is clarity on which nations are worth focusing more efforts on in the scouting department in future and, with the success rate Liverpool have had in the market over the past few years, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Reds simply adapt strategies and find another way to keep our good transfer record going even after these changes.