Liverpool transfers: Jurgen Klopp says Reds cannot ‘behave like Chelsea’ in market

Manager Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool are a “different club” to some rivals in the transfer window as they are “not owned by countries or oligarchs”.

Klopp says “uncertainty” created by Covid-19 is “less important” for some.

He said the Reds have had success “by being the club we are”, adding: “We cannot change that overnight and say ‘now we want to behave like Chelsea’.”

Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live: “Clubs are in different situations and we are living in uncertainty in the world.

“For some clubs it seems to be less important how uncertain the future is because they are owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, and that is the truth.

“We are a different kind of club. We reached the Champions League final two years ago, won it the following year and won the Premier League by being the club we are.”

Liverpool spent £1.3m on young Dutch defender Sepp van den Berg from PEC Zwolle last summer, as well as signing goalkeepers Adrian and Andy Lonergan on free transfers, before adding Red Bull Salzburg’s Japan forward Takumi Minamino for £7.25m in January.

Klopp’s side finished 18 points clear of Manchester City as they won their first league title in 30 years, with Chelsea 33 points behind in fourth.

Chelsea were unable to make any signings last summer because of a Fifa transfer ban, but it was halved on appeal in December 2019 to allow them to bring in players from January this year.

Frank Lampard’s side have signed Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech for £33.3m, RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner for about £48m, Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Kai Havertz for £71m, Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell for £45m and also brought in Paris St-Germain centre-back Thiago Silva on a free transfer.

Last season’s runners-up Manchester City have signed Bournemouth centre-back Nathan Ake for £40m and Valencia winger Fernan Torres for £21m – but have sold Germany winger Leroy Sane to Bayern Munich for about £45m.

Klopp pointed to the post-lockdown form of midfielders Naby Keita and Curtis Jones and the fact Minamino “looks completely different” after settling in since January as reasons Liverpool do not need to make numerous signings this summer.

The German also says he is focused on improving the players in his squad rather than bringing new ones in.

He added: “We always want to improve the squad but there are different ways – one way is to sign new players and the other way is to work together, improve the things you were good in and try to nullify the things you are not good in.

“That is football. No-one wants to talk about training and only about signings.”