Reporters say Liverpool looking to sign midfielder after Klopp “U-turn”

There are only five days remaining in the transfer window and Liverpool journalists claim the club are now proactively searching for a midfielder before the September 1 deadline.

The Reds have been hit with one injury after another and it is only the fourth match week, leading to calls for a new midfield signing to swiftly turn into shouts from every angle.

The manager did not shut the door on a transfer on Friday, saying: “We are working, but we will see if something will happen or not…It has to be the right player.”

He then later expanded on his midfield transfer comments, but still stressed that it must be the right fit for the club to make a move.

“I know we have this discussion now since it all started, and I’m the one who said we don’t need a midfielder and now we go for a midfielder,” Klopp told reporters.

“And you [media] were all right and I was wrong. That’s the situation.

“But that specific point does not change, if we will do something then it has to be the right one [player]. That’s how it is.”

Klopp’s comments pertaining to him being “wrong” and the media being “right” can be interpreted in a number of ways, with his dry delivery making it feel as though it could have been tongue in cheek.

Nevertheless, Merseyside reporters have claimed that a “u-turn” has been made in the search for a new midfielder, with the Mirror‘s David Maddock coining that phrase in his report.

As too the Mail‘s Dominic King, who notes that “Julian Ward, Liverpool’s sporting director, and Klopp have been speaking continually with Mike Gordon,” as is often the case.

SINGAPORE - Friday, July 15, 2022: Liverpool's captain Jordan Henderson (R) celebrates with team-mate Harvey Elliott (L) after scoring the first goal during the Standard Chartered Trophy pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Crystal Palace FC at the Singapore National Stadium. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)

The Telegraph‘s Chris Bascombe has stated that Klopp has held a “find a midfielder conference with his scouts,” saying Klopp “now admits the club are proactively trying to recruit before Thursday’s deadline.”

And David Lynch, for Liverpool World, also echoed the angle of Liverpool now “actively looking” for a midfielder before Thursday’s 11pm deadline.

But what has been readily lost following Klopp’s words on Friday is the missing “if” in the manager’s quotes, a key word for context in how he delivered whether Liverpool would be making a move in the window or not.

The bottom line is Klopp has not definitively ruled out a transfer but whether Liverpool’s search for the “right player” is fruitful remains to be seen.