Klopp backing Liverpool’s youngsters with transfers set to be restricted

Jurgen Klopp has backed Liverpool’s youngsters to step up next season with the club unlikely to conduct much business during the summer transfer window.

The newly-crowned Premier League champions are not expected to spend significantly over the summer following the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic, though Klopp is unconcerned and believes it would be difficult to improve his title-winning side even with a substantial transfer budget.

Liverpool withdrew from a deal to sign Timo Werner – who is now set to join Chelsea – and Klopp believes his squad are capable of maintaining their league-leading standards without drastic changes, the German backing an emerging crop of youngsters to push on ahead of next season.

“Covid has, of course, influenced both sides with ins and outs,” Klopp said, as per The Telegraph. “It’s just not likely that it will be the most busy summer in the world. But maybe at a later point in the year, if the transfer window is still open, we will know more. But this squad, look at it.

“It is not a squad you have to change now and say, ‘OK, we need this position and this position’. If you are a football supporter, even if you are completely happy with everyone, you want backups. We don’t have a first XI. We have a first 16 or 17. They can all play to the same level. And what we want to create are our transfers internally. So now [you see] the first glimpses of Neco Williams, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Ki-Jana Hoever. All these boys, they have done really well.

“We cannot spend millions because we want to or we think it is nice to do. We never wanted that. We want to strengthen this squad and this squad is strong. The problem with a strong squad is how do you improve a strong squad on the transfer market?

Those smiles 😄#LFC – @premierleague champions 2019-20 🏆 pic.twitter.com/jCc6Tgch2W

— Liverpool FC (@LFC) June 29, 2020

“It works with money, obviously, that is possible. But it never works only with money. You have to be creative and we try to be. We try to find solutions internally. We have three or four players who can make big, big steps.”

Liverpool have spent minimally since a busy summer of activity two years ago, largely investing the club’s finances in securing long-term deals for their key personnel.

Klopp remains confident he will be able to keep his title-winning side together despite the uncertainty surrounding the sport at present, and says the Reds are hungry for more silverware next season following a long-awaited title triumph.

“I am very confident that we can keep the team together, but all the rest of the planning is ongoing without knowing,” he added.

“It is just that we have no idea at the moment. I don’t know when the new season will start. Nobody knows how the future will be. Three months ago, nobody knew anything about how it would be and now we act a little bit like everything will be fine again. It is a little bit early to guess that. And in football now we get confronted with how much do you want to spend? How much can you spend if you don’t know how much you can have?

“What I can say is, this team will not stop wanting it. That doesn’t mean we get it. Everyone will see that we want to be successful again and that is how we did it all the time. These boys, like they showed at Crystal Palace, they cannot get lazy. It is just not in their nature.”

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