Klopp mad at big-spending rivals Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp

LONDON — Jurgen Klopp may have spent £70 million on new players this summer, but the Liverpool manager claims he’d walk away from the game if money ever becomes all that decided success or failure on the pitch.

With arch-rivals Manchester United set to shell out a world-record £100m or more on Paul Pogba alone, Manchester City ready to buy defender John Stones from neighbours Everton for £50m and Chelsea no strangers to big money transfer fees, Kop boss Klopp knows he has to build a team not just buy one.

And that suits him just fine.

“Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players, yes,” he explained. “But if you bring one player in for £100million or whatever, and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney.

“Do I have to do it differently to that? Actually, I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money.

“I want a special team spirit – I don’t feel it is necessary, I want it.

“You can’t say at the end, ‘Only 11 best players will play together and let’s see what happens.’ The day that this is football, I’m not in a job anymore. Because the game is about playing together.

“That is why somebody invented passes — so these players can play together. It’s not about running with the ball because you can do it all the time.

“But building the group is not my unique idea, it is necessary to be successful in football.”

Klopp freely admits he himself has spent relatively large amounts of money since arriving at Anfield, including the most he’s ever spent on a single player in splashing out £30m on Southampton forward Sadio Mane .

Yet his moves pale in comparison with the money United, City and Chelsea – his Reds’ opponents in a feisty International Champions Cup friendly in Los Angeles on Wednesday – are certain to spend in a summer transfer market gone mad.

The German is convinced, though, that there is a way to hit back against the voracious big spenders — as his side showed when they at times outplayed the Londoners at the Rose Bowl, despite losing to a Gary Cahill goal.

“If you all swim in the same pool, the pool is too small – you all go for the same players,” said Klopp.

“There are a lot of players outside that pool — good players on to the next step in their career. We try to find them. The best player of the last season is good to know, but it is more interesting trying to find out who will be the best one next year.

“If you knew it now, that would be a really cool transfer! It would be much cheaper too. That is what we work for.

“It is not about being creative because creative is cool or something, it is about finding the players who can make the next step with us.”

That is why Klopp didn’t even try to persuade Henrikh Mkhitaryan, another new United signing who cost them £26m, to move to Anfield this summer, even though he worked with the player at Borussia Dortmund and had a massive influence on his career — and why he won’t be moaning about Pogba’s fee either, should the France midfielder leave Juventus.

“I’m not really interested in things from other clubs. They can do what they want and spend as much as they want,” he said.

“I don’t know exactly how much we have spent so far. For five or six players we could have bought one player for the same money, but I don’t care.

“I have no influence on what other clubs do, so why should I think about it? I am not the moral guardian of the league. I won’t say, ‘Oh, come on! That’s too much money.’

“We’ve spent a lot of money. It’s all about perspective. I am pretty sure it will stop somewhere. Higuain (the Argentina striker who has moved from Napoli to Juventus for £75m)! Whatever.” — The Mirror.

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