Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has given his verdict about the club's £216m transfer spend and British-record signing Florian Wirtz
Former Liverpool Manager and current Head of Global Soccer for Red Bull Jurgen Klopp
Former manager Jurgen Klopp has been keeping a close eye on Liverpool's transfer activity this summer
(Image: Carl Recine/Getty Images)
Jurgen Klopp admits that the fee Liverpool agreed to pay Bayer Leverkusen to buy Florian Wirtz is 'insane', but the former Reds boss has told his old club that they have signed an 'exceptional' talent. Liverpool struck a £100m deal to sign Wirtz, with a further £16m in add-ons potentially taking the sum to a British record.
Having arrived back on Merseyside to witness successor Arne Slot and the Liverpool team lift the Premier League trophy last month, Klopp has clearly kept a keen eye on happenings at Anfield since. The Reds have a £216m outlay on five summer signings and that is still with over two months of window left to play out.
The majority of that sum went towards the acquisition of Wirtz from Bayer Leverkusen, having seen off Bayern Munich and Manchester City in the race to sign the attacker. The path was then clear for Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes to reach a settlement with Leverkusen on what could eventually be a British record fee, and the midfielder finally completed his transfer on June 20.
And Klopp, who famously said he would leave football once player prices passed the £100m mark, conceded that it is now simply normal for the sport.
Klopp told German publication Welt am Sonntag: "There's no question about it, it's an insane sum, and one that a player at Liverpool isn't aware of if things don't go well for two or three games.
"We all agree that we're talking about a great player here."
When Klopp arrived on Merseyside in 2015 his first signings - Sadio Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, Joel Matip - were shrewd and helped build the foundations for the club as it is in the present day.
He'd go on to sign Virgil van Dijk in a club record £75m deal in January 2018, as well as spending a world record fee for a goalkeeper when bringing Alisson Becker to Anfield in a £68m transfer later that year.
Klopp added: "I know I once said that I'm out if we pay 100 million euros for a player. But the world is changing. That's just the way the market is.
"My part of football will always be the game itself, but if you want to play at the top level, you can't train all your players yourself; you have to look elsewhere. Not everyone might like that.
"In English football, what sometimes happens in the transfer market has no impact on people's emotions or their sense of belonging, of being part of the bigger picture. And it's also true that a transfer like this doesn't come along every day."
And the Reds' former boss recognises that if there is anybody who will not be fazed by such a fee, it is his countryman Wirtz.
"Florian is an exceptionally good player who suffered a serious injury at a young age but then picked up where he left off. Respect," he continued.
"And if you don't pay attention to the weather in Liverpool, you'll find a wonderful club where you'd love to be a part of it all.
"Yes [Wirtz will put his stamp on Liverpool], although of course I don't know exactly which position Arne has Florian in mind.
"He's an outstanding player who can give any club something great. Whether he'll make the reigning English champions even better remains to be seen."