It could be now or never for Klopp...
IT IS almost two years since Jurgen Klopp arrived at Liverpool and pledged to end their long wait for the league title. Given a slow start to his transfer business, this season will be a defining one for the manager.
“If we sit here in four years, I think we will win one title,” he said at his first press conference as the club’s manager in October 2015.
Then, with typical Klopp humour, he added: “If not, the next one may be in Switzerland.”
Even if he fails to win a trophy at Anfield, Klopp’s standing as a coach should ensure he avoids exile to the Swiss Super League.
But he has so far managed to add just Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson to his first-team squad with the return of the Premier League barely two weeks away. Despite reaching two cup finals in his first season, Klopp has not managed to end the drought that has brought Liverpool just one trophy in the past 11 years, and he has yet to go as close to winning the league as Bendan Rodgers did.
Liverpool have taken a while to recover from that near-miss under Rodgers in 2014, with the hangover that followed compounded by significant mis-steps in the transfer market. The loss of Luis Suarez to Barcelona that summer was pretty much unavoidable; the failure to sign Alexis Sanchez was regrettable and owed much to his desire to live in London; the decision to spend £16m on Mario Balotelli was downright baffling.
While some of Rodgers’ signings have since come good – most notably Adam Lallana and Emre Can – Lazar Markovic and Alberto Moreno turned out to be duds and the £32m outlay on Christian Benteke proved astonishingly poor value.
Under Klopp, the club’s transfer committee has been far more cautious in the market. At times, the German has had to defend that approach, particularly in January this year when Liverpool failed to make any signings as they were knocked out of two cup competitions and fell away in the league. “It is not that we don’t want to bring players in,” said Klopp then. “We do. But the players we want because we think they will help us, the clubs don’t sell.”
Liverpool nonetheless secured a Champions League place. It was only the second time in eight seasons they had finished in the top four, which is perhaps a sign of what Klopp is up against. Never mind the glory days of Shankly, Paisley, Fagan and Dalglish – their last title winner in 1990 – Liverpool are struggling to keep pace with the achievements of Rafa Benitez.
He may still manage to bring in defender Virgil van Dijk from Southampton, although Liverpool’s clumsy aborted attempt to sign him at the start of the summer did them no favours on that front.
What Klopp really wants is an energetic midfielder who can epitomise the “gegenpressing” style that transformed his former club, Borussia Dortmund, from mid-table also-rans into double Bundesliga champions.
That is why he has been prepared to break Liverpool’s transfer record to prise Naby Keita away from RB Leipzig. Keita recovered the ball more times than any other Bundesliga player last season and only Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembele completed more dribbles.
His eight goals and seven assists helped Leipzig finish runners-up to Bayern Munich and the feeling at Anfield is that he could do for Liverpool what N’Golo Kante has done for Leicester and Chelsea.
Liverpool’s neighbours Everton have spent heavily with the aim of a serious top-four push of their own. Salah’s arrival was a major statement of intent on Liverpool’s part but it is unlikely to be enough without further reinforcements.
The clubs don’t sell the players that we want