2016-17 Liverpool FC are truly the very definition of a team that plays to the level of their opponent. As they get set to tangle with Burnley in a matter of hours, many Liverpool fans worry about the Reds stumbling today because, well they just thrashed Arsenal, and you know the drill with this team.
It’s led to some criticism for Jurgen Klopp, and he responded to those critiques earlier this week.
The summer transfer window put in by Jurgen Klopp drew a lot of criticism this past September too. Sadio Mane was the biggest star that the German went out and got, but he’s far from a household name.
The critics eased off of Klopp though as the team he helped put together enjoyed a great 2016, thrusting themselves into title contention. Then 2017 came along and the Reds hit a major slump. They’re still in the race for top four, but definitely not in the same class with Chelsea. Thus improvements are needed this summer.
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Jurgen Klopp talked summer transfer window on Saturday with the Liverpool Echo:
“Is it possible that these players could improve? Yes, it is. And I think that is very important,” Klopp said.
“Are we looking for transfers and for players? Yes. Are we close to signing them? No, nothing to say about them. It’s not for us about exactly four players or five players and ‘Oh, thank God you asked.’ There are different challenges, different plans.
“But we know what we want, and we are working really hard to get what we want, as you can imagine.”
Klopp pointed out how the team ended up with a net spend that was fiscally in the black, not in the red, and how fans aren’t impressed by that.
“Our transfer balance was positive, but that’s negative, eh? We didn’t make the transfers last summer in order to have a positive transfer record. Not at all.”
There’s nothing like summer transfer window analysis when we still have ten days left in meteorological winter, but hey that’s the world we live in. The season is just a prelude to the summer spending silly season after all. *sarcasm font*
Jurgen Klopp made it very clear that the team will spend money, and that they will be aggressive to improve, adding that the average outside observer just may not really understand how transfer business, and/or the transfer market actually works in real life.
“The squad is fluid. Players come in, players go out. We have created a market by ourselves if you want, bringing in a few young players. They have not perhaps played as much as they would like but they could move on now and we have a market for that.”
“I think we are in a situation where we have a good basis to improve. Of course we will spend money this summer, and probably we will earn money too. But you can’t see then at the end of the window that we are £20 million plus, and think ‘Oh, we need to buy somebody of clout,’ it doesn’t work like this.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network. and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times and NBC Chicago.com, contributes to Chicago Tribune.com, Bold, WGN CLTV and KOZN.
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