“You said earlier you can’t solve all your problems in the transfer market. Is that because you don’t think there are players who can solve the problems, you can’t get the players who you think might be able to solve the problems, is it financial or is it a combination?”
An innocent enough question for Jurgen Klopp’s latest pre-match press conference. With the German already confirming that Liverpool are highly unlikely to be strengthening their squad further this month, it is a question the entirety of the Reds fanbase want answered - Why?
Currently seventh in the Premier League table, and seven points off the top four, Liverpool are in real risk of missing out on qualifying for next season’s Champions League. Such failure would seemingly cost them any chance of signing long-standing target Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund, and god knows who else.
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Rather than risk sleep-walking into such a scenario, with a planned and much-needed midfield revamp in 2023 still not underway, it’s understandable why Kopites are urging their club to roll the dice. It’s the obvious answer to their current woes. Strengthen Klopp’s squad further now to bolster those top four hopes, and to give them the best possibility of strengthening again come the summer.
But for a variety of reasons, the Reds are unable to roll those dice and the increasing pressure is seemingly taking its toll on Liverpool’s manager if his impassioned response to the aforementioned question is anything to go by.
“What could be the reason that we have money like crazy but we don't buy the players even when they are available? That's what you think of me? After all the years?” Klopp said.
"Then why do you ask the question when the answer lies on the table? I really don't understand that. I really don't understand that. Now you stand here and this is the question now. You know the answer.
"If I was to sit here and answer, 'No, no, we have money in the bank, massively that we don't know what to do with, but the players out there are, nah! Nah, we don't do that, nah!'
"On top of that we have the problem in the moment that four of our offensive players are injured. Our strikers. So now we buy another one then they come back, thankfully. Not tomorrow, but they will come back. Darwin soon, the others a little bit later. And we have seven strikers then.
"We couldn't even put them all on the Champions League list. We had to make a decision. Who goes on the new one and the other one. Stuff like this. It's just not that easy. That's why I say you cannot solve the problems, especially with injuries.
"Injuries, that's the main big shadow on all of us because you cannot solve it in the transfer window. Sometimes you have to but usually we just have to get through until the boys come back and then you can use them again. That's how it is.
"That's why in an ideal world, in our best season, we didn't have a lot of injuries. And it was much more intense than it is now. All these kinds of things but now we have them and we have to deal with that.
"But the transfer market is not for us in this moment. Obviously not the solution. But if something is out there and somebody tells me, 'Yes', we will do it. But for this specific situation I don't think it will happen."
Klopp is taking his frustrations out on the wrong man, it would seem. The German is privy to transfer talks with owners FSG, the contents of which will never be divulged to us civilians. And the contents of which are arguably answers he did not want to hear.
He knows his squad is stung by injuries. He knows his squad is in desperate need of a midfield overhaul. And he knows, for a variety of reasons, why further recruitment seemingly won’t be possible, beyond the arrival of Cody Gakpo, this month.
It’s not ideal and he’s clearly not happy about it. Liverpool need the cavalry to come riding in to their rescue, to salvage their season, but no-one is coming to save the day. Klopp will have to find the answers himself from within. With that being the case, he has no choice but to defend his current options too, even if his latest response to a perfectly-valid question was heavy-handed at best.
Back in the summer he admitted he would like the FSG to take more risks in the transfer market on occasions. He also admitted that the Reds had been wrong not to sign a new midfielder before bringing in Arthur Melo on loan. But now, six months on, he is a defensive presence once more.
As the club’s manager, facing the media multiple times a week, he is the only Liverpool face who can be asked such questions in the public domain. While he will no doubt have asked the same questions himself to FSG, they are hidden away back in Boston, having had nothing to say since confirming their search for new investment last year.
Of course, everyone has a suspicion of the answers, with such questions only asked in search of Klopp's specific confirmation. FSG’s search for investment has reiterated how they cannot compete with the Man Citys and Paris Saint-Germains of this world, with this already a frustration for the German. Meanwhile, the fact that first-choice target Bellingham is unavailable in January and at real risk of slipping through Liverpool fingers in the summer will frustrate him further as he continues to fight with one arm tied behind his back.
Now unable to bat away criticism with success on the pitch, Liverpool are struggling to ignore it and are not in possession of a magic wand to rescue their fortunes. As a result, they face their toughest challenge under Klopp’s watch.
It’s one of their own doing too. By focusing on the future, they have overlooked the present. It’s all very well signing young players for next season and beyond, in pursuit of future success, but they could be accused of having fallen asleep at the wheel after allowing themselves to get caught in transition.
The German is not entirely innocent either, with Klopp ultimately the man who showed immense loyalty when keeping this ageing squad together. While commendable decisions and easy to make when successful, in hindsight they perhaps lacked that needed ruthless edge.
But now that loyalty is all he can call upon, in hope his players can reward such public backing by delivering Champions League football against the odds. He is the man responsible for if Liverpool finish in the top four or not, after all.
His retort, with particular focus on his injured forwards, was accurate but perhaps deliberately missing the point. When encouraged to strengthen his squad further, no-one expects additional attackers, especially having already signed Gakpo this month. It’s in midfield where the questions remain.
Yet that was sidestepped as Klopp bemoaned Liverpool injuries. If the Reds miss out on Champions League football, the narrative presented is one of those absentees costing a helpless side rather than them having themselves to blame for not strengthening further.
Klopp did leave the door to further recruitment ajar, at least, even if more in hope than expectation. His closing remark of, “If something is out there and somebody tells me, 'Yes', we will do it,” suggesting that, despite this spiky defence, he knows his squad needs further help.
The Reds are gambling if Gakpo remains their only mid-season recruit, desperately hoping that one step back can lead to two step forwards come the end of the season. These were not the desired risks Klopp had in mind.
He might not understand why he continues to face such questioning, but, with Champions League qualification at real risk, Kopites simply don't understand the answers a stubborn Liverpool are providing.
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