Liverpool

Jurgen Klopp: 'Liverpool had to be cool in January transfer window'

By Giuseppe Labellarte, Reporter | 01 February 2018

Klopp: 'Liverpool had to be cool on transfers'

Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool had to stay "cool" in the January transfer window because a mid-season replacement for Philippe Coutinho would have cost "completely crazy money".

Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Liverpool stayed "cool" in the January transfer window because his attacking targets would have cost "completely crazy money".

The Reds sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in a £142m deal at the start of the month but deadline day passed without a like-for-like replacement for the Brazilian being sourced.

In addition, forward Daniel Sturridge was loaned out to West Bromwich Albion, prompting criticism of the club's transfer dealings by some sections of the fanbase.

However, Klopp insists that the nature of the modern-day transfer market - plus the imminent return of Adam Lallana - led to a call for patience instead of paying over-the-top fees.

"Unfortunately our business is only from the outside that easy. You miss a player for a week and you think 'okay, we need another player'," Klopp told the Liverpool Echo.

"Yes, we could have done something. But we need really the right thing. The right thing now, you don't get. The 100% right thing, only for completely crazy money that really makes no sense. I'm not even sure that would work. And in the summer it looks different.

"That's how it is. To do something just to have any solution that makes no real sense, to be honest. People obviously ask 'bring him in' because someone is injured and you need somebody else, but then the other one is coming again and you weaken both or the third one, it makes no sense."

Liverpool made one signing in January, centre-back Virgil van Dijk joining in a £75m deal from Southampton.