‘You’re all playing for your futures’ says boss

JURGEN KLOPP says his Liverpool stars are playing for their futures.

Klopp has the cash to go after the biggest names this summer and admits he needs reinforcements after a mid-season slump that has left their campaign in tatters. Liverpool have won just two of their last 12 matches, crashing out of both domestic cup competitions and slipping out of the Premier League’s top four. They flopped 3-1 at managerless Leicester on Monday and face Arsenal today with Klopp warning it’s up to his players to prove they are good enough to stay at Anfield. Klopp said: “We are at a moment when we cannot make transfers any more. Good, we have to concentrate on this. “That’s what I said after the Leicester game. We all play for our future, that’s how it is – we get judged. We create ® the need for transfers or not by ourselves. If we perform at the highest level, nobody asks for new players.

“If you don’t, everybody asks for them. That is the situation we are in.”

Despite having money to spend in the summer, Klopp admits that Liverpool’s biggest struggle will be to sign players if rival clubs such as Chelsea and Manchester United come calling as well.

Fight

“If you only think that you have to spend the same amount of money as other clubs, then yeah, maybe it’s more likely to fight for the same players.

“But is it possible to fight with those clubs for those players? In a few moments it is possible. It will not be about money, I am sure.

“We can go for the players we want to go for. But can we go for a player Manchester United want to go for?

“If United make an offer, if Chelsea make an offer, does it make sense to jump in? I don’t know.

“So is it then about money or is it that players think, ‘Manchester is a nicer city’ or ‘I want to live in London instead of Liverpool?’.

“We have to make a decision and if the club come to me and say that is too expensive – it hasn’t happened and I don’t expect it to happen – but if it happens, I have to accept it.

“Since I’ve been here, it’s never been about money. Nobody in this club told me, ‘Stop, that is too much money’. It was always because we were convinced about the player.”

Liverpool didn’t make a signing in the January window, while star man Sadio Mane, despite scoring twice against Tottenham three weeks ago, is struggling to find the consistency he showed before the Africa Cup of Nations.

“One or two players in January, when we had problems with injury and the Africa Cup, would have been cool,” said Klopp.

“Could we have had more? Yes, but the window in the winter didn’t give us any opportunity.

“We had this problem but we will be prepared for the summer.”