Blitzing Bayern proves we don’t need spending spree, says Klopp
JURGEN KLOPP insists there will be no big spending at Anfield this summer, regardless of whether he claims his first silverware as Liverpool manager. Liverpool’s outlay for Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Naby Keita and Fabinho in 2018 came to £242million and they also pulled out of a £53m deal for Lyon’s France playmaker Nabil Fekir last August. Although a No 10 of Fekir’s calibre remains on the wishlist, Klopp says the focus will be on improving a team that was ‘100 per cent at its best’ in the away win over Bayern Munich that earned a Champions League quarter-final with Porto. ‘I don’t think this is a team at the moment where we have to spend the big money,’ said Klopp. ‘The best way to do it is to bring together a group of players, try to develop them together and then stay together for a while. ‘And that was maybe the main problem at Liverpool for the last decade. When they had a good team, after a season they went all over the world. That will not happen this year, for sure.’ Klopp believes the 3-1 win at Bayern highlights how much growth remains in a 2018-19 vintage that can return to the Premier League summit at Fulham tomorrow. ‘It is massive,’ said Klopp. ‘We have to start looking at ourselves how other teams see us. I never saw Bayern being that defensive-orientated. When Manchester City came here, it was similar.’