Liverpool transfer pulling power shows we’re back among Europe’s elite – Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that the club are now back among Europe’s elite.
After reaching the Champions League final last season, where they lost 3-1 to Spanish giants Real Madrid, the Anfield club will feel they are on the rise.
Klopp’s side qualified for Europe’s biggest competition with a top-four finish and have brought in some blockbuster signings in this summer transfer window to join the vast array of talent already strutting their stuff on Merseyside.
Liverpool have signed long-time target and former Roma goalkeeper Alisson, the tenacious and technically gifted midfielder, Naby Keita, from RB Leipzig. There is also tough-tackling talent Fabinho from Monaco and skilled Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri from recently relegated Stoke City, all for a combined transfer fee of roughly £160 million.
With this year’s aim to close the gap in the Premier League to snatch the title off Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, and to go one step further in Europe, Klopp feels that the club are now ready to compete with some of the biggest clubs on the continent.
“We are really back among the top clubs in Europe. That’s a big achievement. Nobody is really interested but it is,” Klopp told the Echo.
“We feel it when we sign players now. It’s not that we come and say: ‘By the way, Liverpool is not as bad as everyone says and the club is still existing, we’re still here.’
“We are on the screen now for all the players in the world. They watched us last season, they watched us the year before, they saw what we did.
“It’s much easier to convince, actually we don’t need to convince them.
“With Virgil (van Dijk) it was like this, with Naby it was like this. Before that it was the same with Sadio (Mane) and Mo (Salah).
“With our signings this summer we didn’t have to create some kind of story and say to them: ‘The Queen comes to Liverpool sometimes and if you sign for us you can meet her!’
“We only spoke about football – that was enough. That’s a good sign for us. Of course we now have to carry on in that way.”
Liverpool’s first Premier League fixture is against West Ham United on Sunday.
Fabinho: I was Never Close to Joining Man United
Fabinho has denied he had a move to Manchester United blocked by Monaco before joining Liverpool earlier in the summer.
The Brazilian midfielder was one of the stars of the Monaco team that stormed to the Ligue 1 title in 2017 and his performances caught the attention of a number of clubs.
Manchester United were said to be interested in bringing Fabinho to Old Trafford, with reports claiming Monaco blocked the 24-year-old’s switch to the Premier League outfit.
But Fabinho has denied the suggestion, saying Jose Mourinho’s side never approached Monaco with an official offer. ‘Manchester never showed any formal interest, they never made me an offer at all,’ he told Sky Sports.
‘Maybe there was some interest or a conversation but it’s not a case of Monaco not letting me go to Manchester United or denying me the move, nothing ever really materialised.’
Fabinho cost Liverpool over £40million but Jurgen Klopp has warned fans that the Brazil international is still taking time to adapt to his new surroundings. Discussing the club’s summer additions, which also include Alisson, Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri, Klopp said last week: ‘I am really happy with the new players. ‘Fabinho, much better in offensive pressing, but still struggling a bit as not fresh enough. It’s been a hard pre-season for him.
R