Jurgen Klopp has reiterated why he sees Liverpool as different to free-spending clubs like Man City and PSG, insisting that every player in his squad has “a right to exist.”
The Reds have only signed one player so far this summer in centre-back Ibrahima Konate – who, as it stands, is not part of the first-choice XI – while Gini Wijnaldum has departed.
Meanwhile, City have already brought in Jack Grealish for £100 million and are actively pursuing Harry Kane, and over in Ligue 1, PSG have signed Wijnaldum, Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Achraf Hakimi, Danilo Pereira and, sensationally, Lionel Messi.
City’s 5-0 thrashing of Norwich at the weekend saw Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez among the substitutes, while PSG’s 4-2 victory over Brest had Donnarumma, Angel Di Maria and Julian Draxler in reserve – with Messi not even involved.
Liverpool are far from the shallowest squad in Europe, but as last season highlighted, they are not equipped to contend with long-term injuries to a number of their key players.
Klopp wouldn’t have it any other way, though, as he told BILD: “You can only play with 11 players.”
“It’s not about who has the 11 best or most spectacular players on the field, but who makes the best of what they have together, who makes the best of their opportunities,” he said.
“That is not unfair, it is just the situation.
“A squad has to work. It’s not that much fun when you have 40 players and 22 of them are not in a good mood any weekend.
“With us, all players have a right to exist and are very satisfied. But just bringing in players doesn’t make sense.”
Klopp is, of course, treading old ground here, but it is certainly worth bringing back up in the landscape of a pandemic-hit sport in which few, dubiously-backed clubs are still able to spend big.
For Liverpool, the priority this summer has instead been in retaining key players with new contracts for Fabinho, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk.
This has certainly not come cheap, but amid calls to bring new bodies into the club before the transfer deadline on August 31, Klopp has detailed his stance.
“Paris won 4-2 against Brest. If you see the names for PSG you’d expect it to be 8-0 – but it was 4-2,” he continued.
“The nice thing about football is that nobody knows beforehand who will win.
“Some have better chances, some worse. But everyone has a chance. That’s what I think is great about football.”
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