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Liverpool Echo

Sport

Paul Gorst

Liverpool net spend brought into focus by Jurgen Klopp midfield transfer comments

Jurgen Klopp Liverpool Darwin Nunez Anfield (Organization) Naby Keita Thiago Alcantara EPL Manchester City

One of the main strengths of Liverpool in recent years has been the united front the club have generally been able to project.

Across all facets of the club under its leadership group of the likes of Jurgen Klopp, Julian Ward and Billy Hogan - as well as the sporting director and CEO's respective predecessors of Michael Edwards and Peter Moore - everyone at Anfield has been largely singing from the same hymn sheet.

So it was interesting to hear Klopp speaking on Friday about how he would actually like to sign a new midfielder before the end of the transfer window, but accepts it is not possible to bring in the requisite quality due to an apparent lack of funds.

"When [every midfielder is] fit, 100% [we have enough numbers], but even then we always look to strengthen," Klopp said. "But we have to and we always did [make sure] that it must be the right player and if the right player is not available at this moment then we tend to deal with what we have rather than sign a player who is not 100% right.

"This situation did not change. Now we have more injuries than we would have imagined and it would be cool to have another midfielder in, of course. But now we have a situation that when the boys come back and stuff like these it changes constantly.

"Then there is also another fact that I am not in charge of what we can spend. That's the situation. We get told things and then we deal with it. That is always the same, it didn't change. You could say that is why we are here with a good understanding and a bad understanding. I always have to accept that and always did. That is it."

The admission that a spending issue is halting a potential addition is an intriguing one from a manager whose success affords him about as much power as is possible to have at a Premier League club during the modern era.

One would think that if Klopp demanded something, the club's hierarchy would find a way to make it happen. Not so, it would seem, where a new midfielder is concerned.

It must be stressed that Klopp's words were not delivered in any tone of frustration over the situation and when he says he has accepted the lay of the land then it's fair to say he means it. But it's curious to note that funds are being cited, regardless.

With the exclusion of add-ons, the net spend this summer sits somewhere around the £10m mark, which is a small number for a club the size of the Reds. At a time when some of their rivals are attempting to close the significant gap on Manchester City and Liverpool as the preeminent teams in England, spending has been typically subdued and sensible at Anfield.

An initial outlay of £64m on Darwin Nunez was predicated by Sadio Mane's sale to Bayern Munich, but the signings of Fabio Carvalho and more specifically Calvin Ramsay were completed with one eye on the future.

Klopp has spoken about the need for the 'right player' which is a strategy he has made something of a trademark during his time at Anfield, never more so than when he held off signing an alternative centre-half when relations with Southampton broke down over the initial pursuit of Virgil van Dijk in 2017.

To many, that hardline stance is admirable in the face of regular demands for more in the market, particularly on social media. Klopp, though, will never be one to give too much credence into the views that can be found on sites like Twitter, however.

On the flip side, though, the low figures in the net spend column only look shrewd when the garden is in bloom and there can be no denying that it's been a laboured start to this year's title quest.

When the games are being won and trophies are being lifted, the net spend figures look like the work of a self-sustainable club with its house in order across all departments. The delicate balancing act is that they open themselves up to easy criticism when those results dip, particularly when the manager is admitting "it would be cool to have another midfielder in" to a room packed with journalists.

If the margins at the top of the Premier League are now almost impossibly slender, so is the line between genius and negligence when it comes to keeping a team at the top on limited transfer spending.

Back-to-back draws is not a cause for concern on its own but at a time when injuries are piling up to crisis levels and the £64m man Nunez is out for three games himself with suspension, the concerns begin to grow more audible.

Klopp has a point when he suggests that the club cannot sanction big-money moves for players who will sign five-year contracts just to compensate for the absence of squad members who will be back on the training pitch within weeks, but the wider lens shows that a number of those currently sidelined have significant history of being on the shelf.

For all the qualities of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago Alcantara and Naby Keita, durability is not something any of the trio can claim. It will have come as a shock to few to note that all three have had to deal with problems of their own already this season. Only Thiago has featured so far in the two games and that was a mere 50-minute cameo at Fulham.

Curtis Jones and Jordan Henderson have also had to deal with their own injuries already, while Joel Matip, Diogo Jota, Caoimhin Kelleher and Ibrahima Konate can all count themselves among the wider absentee list, although Roberto Firmino is at least expected to return at Manchester United on Monday night.

There is unlikely to be any panicking just yet and the situation could look a lot healthier when the full-time whistle is blown at Old Trafford, but the alternative, even at this early juncture, could - and perhaps should - force a sizable re-think in the corridors of power.

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