Despite initial worries, Liverpool FC ended the summer transfer window as one of the big winners by bringing in good players and managing to hold on to their top talent.
By Eduard Banulescu
Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at Liverpool in October of 2015 was met with a good degree of enthusiasm by the club’s fateful. The German’s first season in England generally reached initial expectations, and occasionally surpassed them. Liverpool proved to be a resilient team, with a style heavily influenced by their new manager. In his second season, the general consensus seemed to be that Liverpool was a team capable of winning against any of their top rivals in the league, but also the potential to be very wasteful in failing to earn points against lower table teams.
The Merseyside team qualified for the UEFA Champions League and there is a clear desire from club representatives to build off last season, and use it as a springboard to improve. To have a chance of achieving this, the club obviously needed to bolster their squad.
At the start of the transfer window, the German admitted that the team’s principal targets would be hard to persuade to join the club, especially with the competition being faced in the market.
Then there was the matter of holding on to their best players. Brazilian Philippe Coutinho, in particular, seemed on the verge of signing with Spanish giants Barcelona for much of the summer.
However, as things stand right now, with the transfer window over, Liverpool ends up as one of the big winners.
Not only has the club managed to bring in players that are very likely to make an important impact: Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or Naby Keita (joining the team next season), they’ve also managed to fend off challenges for their star players. Philippe Coutinho seemed one step out the door for the majority of the transfer window. While Barcelona was more than willing to part with a good amount of money out of what they received for Neymar, Liverpool FC stood firm.
Klopp now claims that life will go on as before for Coutinho at the club, and he is expected back in the team for the next round of Premier League action. The Brazilian missed the club’s first five games in the league with the club claiming he had a back injury.
“We have exactly the situation we wanted and no other. Don’t believe everything in the press or that there are offers here and there and that the minute after the offer has been entered, it should already be over,” Klopp says.
The manager is anxious for the press to move away from the story and look towards the future. “We are not like George Orwell where everybody knows everything immediately. We still have a really good player in the squad who can play.”
Barcelona publicly announced their willingness to sign Coutinho, but it was ironically Neymar’s move to PSG that may have blocked the transfer. The Brazilian forward’s move to Ligue 1 for a frankly outrageous, record fee, created a ripple effect that was immediately felt on the asking price for all other players in the transfer market. Liverpool is said to have demanded a sum in the region of 200 million for Coutinho.
Barcelona decided not to match the price and eventually signed Ousmane Dembele instead.
Certainly, Liverpool FC has caught a good break following the transfer period. The team has won seven points out of their first nine and currently sit second in the Premier League. With all things considered, should the team be able to capture points in the games they’re expected to win, it could turn out to be a truly special season for Klopp’s side.