KLOPP’S GINI-US SIGNINGS FOR REDS

MANAGERS often live or die on the success of their transfers – and few would argue Jurgen Klopp has got his recruitment spot on at Anfield.

While most will struggle to recall the exploits of his first signing, Marko Grujic, Klopp has played a huge part in turning other new arrivals into club legends.

Many baulked at the £36million fee Liverpool paid Southampton for Sadio Mane in Klopp’s first summer transfer window.

But those who mocked were quickly silenced as the Senegal forward wrote his name into the club’s history books.

Another new signing in 2016, Georginio Wijnaldum (above), who arrived from Newcastle for £25m to little fanfare, broke the deadlock in a tense final-day win over Middlesbrough, which secured a return to Champions League football.

Klopp’s other major signings that summer all had contrasting fortunes.

But Joel Matip (with Klopp, right) played a crucial part in the 2019 Champions League win and became a cult hero among fans after arriving on a free transfer from Schalke.

Though that triumph in Madrid came a year after another Klopp signing, Loris Karius, endured a nightmare in Kiev with two glaring errors in the 2018 Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.

Andy Robertson was on the shrewder side of Liverpool’s business when he joined from Hull City for £8m before establishing himself as one of the best full-backs in world football.

But arguably the best pound-for-pound signing of Klopp’s tenure wasn’t even his first choice.

The role FSG and sporting director Michael Edwards have played in supporting Klopp’s team on the pitch is incalculable.

It was Edwards who persuaded Klopp that Mohamed Salah would be a better option than the German’s preferred target Julian Brandt. The rest, as they say, is history.

Salah’s goals in a remarkable first season at Anfield drove Liverpool to the Champions League final before his heartache in Kiev.

That final was after star man Philippe Coutinho was sold for a mammoth fee.

But his move allowed Klopp to reinvest the funds on Virgil van Dijk and contribute towards the subsequent acquisitions of Alisson and Fabinho – three players who ensured Liverpool returned to the same stage a year later with a better outcome.

Klopp’s ability to get the best out of fringe men was also a crucial element to his success – the likes of Alex Oxlade-chamberlain and Xherdan Shaqiri made vital contributions, while the role of Divock Origi, albeit not a Klopp signing, needs no explanation.

There has been the odd misstep. Naby Keita arrived for a record fee but injuries meant the midfielder struggled to justify his price tag.

The jury remains out on others too, namely Darwin Nunez, who broke the €100m barrier that Klopp insisted he’d never reach.

Of the current crop, for every undoubted success, like Luis

Diaz, Diogo Jota and Alexis Mac Allister, there are others – Cody Gakpo, Dominik Szoboszlai and Ryan Gravenberch – where time will tell.

Klopp won’t be around for that, but leaves after a total net spend of roughly £335m. Not bad when you consider Manchester City have

spent around double that.