Jurgen Klopp transfer strategy avoids other club’s failings

Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp are avoiding failure.

The boss was talking about his strategy in the transfer market, reported Ian Doyle in the Echo, and it revealed why you won’t see Liverpool make the same mistakes as other top flight clubs.

Super rich outfits like Manchester United or Manchester United have a habit of turning to the market to solve problems, while the Reds and sporting director Michael Edwards are doing things a little bit different.

We’ve seen Liverpool spend money, sure, but that’s always been on highly considered deals that instantly improve the squad. Alisson, Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Naby Keita cost a pretty penny but they’ve all become important parts of this side.

Klopp stated that having a smaller squad with less elite players was part of his philosophy.

"He said: “We build a squad in which everybody feels they are needed. That means we can sometimes be a little bit short in an ‘A’ solution, but we always have a solution.“As long as we have that, we have to work with that.”"

Liverpool are prepared to wait for the right man to become available and they rarely panic. Contrast that to the strategy that’s seen City splash hundreds of millions on full-backs or United throw cash after the latest fancy foreign import.

Even Everton have been guilty of this. But not Liverpool.

Edwards doesn’t spend unless there’s a deal too good to turn down or the player is too good to turn down. You could argue that Xherdan Shaqiri and Takumi Minamino don’t fit this model, but they were both picked up for peanuts and will be sold for a profit – if it comes down to it.

But even then, they are earmarked to fill a gap someone in the Academy couldn’t. Harry Wilson was out on loan the season Shaqiri arrived and there wasn’t anyone good enough to take Mohamed Salah’s place in the side. Shaq was.

There’s isn’t a natural hair to Roberto Firmino’s throne, Minamino could be that man.

Klopp’s reluctance to go after full-back replacements highlights this perfectly. While he could have gone after players like Junior Firpo or Aaron Wan-Bissaka, he has waited and trusted in Neco Williams or James Milner to do the job.

While this axis of trust exists between Edwards, Klopp and the rest of the staff, the strategy of making small amounts of transfers but going fast and hard when they need to will pay off.