Klopp admits top-four failure could cost Liverpool top transfer targets
Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool could find it harder to land their preferred transfer targets if they fail to qualify for the Champions League but denied he is under any extra pressure to get a top-four finish this year because of the financial implications.
Liverpool were already projected to lose about £100 million ($139m) as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, but the 2019 Champions League winners and 2018 runners-up are now on course to miss out on next season’s competition.
They and Chelsea have contested two Champions League semi-finals and are not accustomed to meeting in sixth and fifth. They meet today with the loser at risk of a top-four finish.
Klopp’s side have suffered six league defeats in 2021 but said Fenway Sports Group have been supportive.
“It is not that the owners called me and said ‘if you don’t qualify for Champions League then this or that will happen’, because we are all together and we all understand the situation,” he said.
Klopp has denied his side need a “massive rebuild” in the summer but after Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara were the only major acquisitions in the past two summers, plans to recoup could be stymied without the appeal of the Champions League.
“The main reason for qualifying is it is a great competition to play in,” Klopp said. “You want to excite some players to join. But it is always about finances and this year will be no different. It is always very important, absolutely.”
Klopp faces Thomas Tuchel, his successor at both Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, for the first time in the Premier League, and said: “He has a much better record than I had with Mainz, winning much more Bundesliga games. I think he is an outstanding coach and manager.”
Liverpool have lost past four games at Anfield but should have a stronger squad as they seek to end their worst home run since 1923.
Alisson is available again after missing Sunday’s win at Sheffield United for compassionate reasons after the death of his father while Jota, who has not played since December after first injury and then a stomach bug, could feature.
Fabinho is also back, giving Klopp the decision whether to keep the new-look centre-back partnership of Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips or to play the Brazilian in his best position. “If we can find a way to bring Fab back in midfield that would be in some games quite helpful,” he said.
The international break is another worry for Liverpool with their three Brazilan players and the Portuguese winger Jota likely to be called up for national duty.
“We cannot just let the boys go and sort the situation when they come back by placing our players in a 10-day quarantine in a hotel,” Klopp said.
“You cannot make everyone happy at this time and we have to admit the players are paid by the clubs so it means we have to be first priority.”