Klopp aware of added expectation after £175m Liverpool spend

Jurgen Klopp acknowledges that he is under pressure to deliver long-awaited silverware at Liverpool after embarking on an elaborate £175 million ($229m) spending spree.

The Reds, who last lifted a major trophy back in 2012, have come close to ending their barren run in recent years, reaching League Cup, Europa League and Champions League finals.

In an effort to get themselves over the line, while also challenging for the Premier League title, they have invested £250m ($328m) in new talent across the last two transfer windows.

Virgil van Dijk was acquired to plug defensive leaks in January, with Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson – the world’s most expensive goalkeeper – drafted in this summer.

Klopp hopes that he now boasts the squad depth required to land tangible reward for his efforts, telling reporters while on International Champions Cup duty: “We expect more from ourselves.

“We will go again for the championship and each kind of cup but that does not mean I can sit here and say we will get it.

“We have the highest ambitions, 100 per cent. It is the next step. We need to be ready for that. I cannot give guarantees here but I understand if people think that. I know about the expectations and that is completely normal.

“First of all we have to play the football that gives us an opportunity to win something. I am confident we can build on last season. It’s not that we lost things completely but you have to work on it to get it back.

“I am not in doubt about our basis or that we will reach it again. I want to have the best start ever but we all know that something can happen and then everything is questioned in a second.

“I am in for the start of a third season and in each season there was one period when people questioned me or our progress. In the end it was OK. I am prepared for these moments.

“The new players will make us stronger 100%. How? By starting, coming from the bench, the depth of the squad.”

Klopp believes boasting more options will be of the greatest benefit to Liverpool in 2018-19, with the club having relied heavily on a favoured starting XI last season led by 44-goal frontman Mohamed Salah.

The German added: “It is not just that we have to be more consistent, we have to create circumstances where we can be more consistent.

“Nobody is consistent with 11 players. What we are working on is the depth of the squad because you need it.

“The first part of the season when we did the rotation and we were quite active with it, we did six or seven changes from one game or the other, we still had quality on the pitch that felt perfect.

“We need to make sure we can do that much longer over the season and that is only possible if you have the squad.

“That’s the situation. Create the circumstances that we can be more consistent and to improve individually and as a group.

“Other teams, of course, will do transfer business as well. They will not be weaker than last year. City brought in Riyad Mahrez. I did not hear that they lost one player so far. So it means the quality of last year plus Mahrez. That’s a nice plan as well."