Klopp adamant he won't demand money from Liverpool owners to fund big transfers

Jurgen Klopp insists he will not demand money from Liverpool’s owners for transfers this summer.

And the Reds boss has reiterated that the Premier League champions will not be forced into doing business by the spending of their rivals.

Liverpool have so far made one senior signing since being crowned champions in June, bringing Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos.

They have, however, lost both Dejan Lovren and Adam Lallana, and are ready to sell a number of other players including Xherdan Shaqiri, Marko Grujic and Harry Wilson, if suitable offers are received.

Midfielder Gini Wijnaldum, meanwhile, has entered the final year of his contract and is on Barcelona's radar.

In terms of incomings, the biggest link continues to be with Thiago Alcantara, the Bayern Munich midfielder, with reports in Germany suggesting a deal could be struck in the coming weeks.

Klopp, for his part, has always maintained that Liverpool’s position will be dictated by the financial uncertainty created by the coronavirus crisis, and on Friday he was asked if that situation was any clearer now than it had been at the end of last season.

“I’m clear enough about it,” he said. “As clear as possible.

“We will never have a relationship where I go to [owner] Mike Gordon and say ‘that’s the money I need and without it we cannot survive’ or whatever. It’s all about the club. There are other clubs that have different policies, obviously, but that’s what you have to accept and expect. 

“It was the same last year and the year before. It didn’t harm us, our way. It’s just our way. I cannot change that and I don’t want to. I knew about it when I arrived here, that this is the way it goes, and since I am here nothing has changed.

“As a sensible person, I know that these are not the best times in our lives, so why should we plan long term? But we are in a good place, we have a good team, and we are motivated.”

He added: “We cannot just bring in five new players because we want to be ‘busy’. I don’t think I have ever bought enough players in the transfer window for everybody! It was always, ‘Agh, we need another one!’ 

“So far it worked out, but that doesn’t mean it will work out forever. We made mistakes and we will probably make more. But it’s all about what kind of mood we can create again for this season, creating a unit that is extremely difficult to beat, a proper, proper team that is ready to fight for each other.

“That’s the most important thing. Not who you can buy during a very strange moment of all our lives.”