Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Klopp has shown wasteful United how you really rebuild a team that can fight for title glory
MUCH as every Manchester United fan will hate to admit it, Jurgen Klopp has shown it is possible to convert also-rans into champions inside four years.
Klopp has spent £395million on new players since he became Liverpool manager in October 2015 – with a net spend of just under £70m.
In that time, he has delivered the European Cup to Anfield, reached four other major finals, and is currently sitting pretty on an eight-point lead at the top of the Premier League.
Contrast Klopp’s ascent with United’s wretched decline since Sir Alex Ferguson retired in 2013. Over the last six seasons, United have finished an average of 21.5 points behind the champions.
And although it pains me to say so, they are now an irrelevance in the title race.
Liverpool don’t just go to Old Trafford – where they have a poor record (two wins in 18 games) – as firm favourites this weekend.
It would not surprise me if they won comprehensively because they have the best manager and the best front three in the world.
Look at the first Liverpool team Klopp picked four years ago, against Tottenham at White Hart Lane, and you can see the extent of his makeover: Mignolet, Clyne, Skrtel, Sakho, Moreno, Leiva, Can, Milner, Lallana, Coutinho, Origi. Survivors, as first-team picks in 2019, are few and far between.
Wow – Klopp turned that lot from eighth in 2015-16 to Champions League winners three years later.
From back to front, his signings have been supreme value for money – from goalkeeper Alisson Becker to Virgil van Dijk (above, with the European Cup), Mo Salah and Sadio Mane.
Contrast Klopp’s surgery with United’s line-up the same weekend: De Gea, Darmian, Jones, Smalling, Rojo, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger, Mata, Herrera, Martial, Rooney.
Yes, there have been changes. But United have spent £900m on new players since Fergie stepped down – and they have gone backwards.
Where, in Ferguson’s era, there used to be a nucleus of senior players calling the shots and leading by example for youngsters to follow, now there is too much dead wood cluttering up the squad.
And where young players used to give United pace and energy, they are now having to carry the team – Marcus Rashford, in particular, is showing signs of the burden turning to fatigue.
One problem is that the kids United are turning to – Scott Mctominay has been a shining light among them – are not coming into the first team with a winning mentality.
Many of the youngsters coming through at Chelsea have won the FA Youth Cup several times, for instance, and their winning habit is making an immediate impact in the Premier League.
But United’s kids have not been serial winners at youth level. They are having to learn the art of winning on the shop floor, and that’s a huge ask.
As I have said in previous columns, I am not in favour of ditching Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. I am not in favour of any manager getting the sack. He spent £145m in the last window on Harry Maguire, Aaron Wanbissaka and Daniel James and all three look good investments, so he deserves at least another couple of windows.
And Solskjaer’s record over his first 29 games in charge of United has been better than Klopp’s first 29 games at Liverpool – so transformation is not out of the question. It can be done.
But there is talk of former Juventus coach Max Allegri learning English with a view to landing a plum job in the Premier League.
Allegri preaches progressive, expansive football and he’s a top-class coach – but if he comes in at Old Trafford, he’s still going to have the same squad at his disposal, the same accumulation of mediocrity.
Loyal supporters at Old Trafford won’t thank me for this but, if I had to pick a combined United/liverpool XI now, French international Paul Pogba would be the only Red Devils player to make the cut.
And United fans won’t enjoy this, either: In the visitors’ dugout this weekend, under the beard and baseball cap, will be the best manager in the world.
Jurgen Klopp has shown that it is possible to build champions of Europe without wasting £900m.