Jürgen Klopp and the Importance of Keeping His Liverpool Team Together

New players arriving at Melwood, especially really, really good ones, makes for good press and brings a smile to our beautiful faces. But the January transfer window can be a tricky affair. Generally we are all in agreement that the players and deals on offer in the winter are not often desirable (Virgil Van Dijk being a recent exception).

Still, we want to dream that the best players want to come to Liverpool right now and that Jürgen Klopp is waiting at the airport for the player’s flight to arrive and the money wasn’t a problem and the new player’s inclusion in the squad will in no way hinder the excellence of any of our current really, really good players.

But Klopp’s message to supporters is not to expect any incomings this month. Sure, the squad is thin in the right full back position since Nathaniel Clyne was loaned to Bournemouth but I’m sure Trent Alexander-Arnold can play every single minute of competitive football during Liverpool’s super important and potentially historic quest for the Premier League title.

In response to questions over the club’s ability to recruit and bring in valuable players, Klopp praised the owners desire to invest in Liverpool’s squad. Together with FSG, Klopp has dropped large sums of money on a team to compete together for the foreseeable future. Short term options are disliked, the German manager has a long game going on.

“That is what our owners gave us the opportunity to do,” Klopp said.

“Buying new players is expensive, signing new players is expensive, extending contracts with top players is expensive. That’s how it is.

“For that you need the money side of life. It is all good. On the other side, other clubs pay good money as well.

“If they (the players) didn’t believe in the project and wouldn’t enjoy living and working here then they wouldn’t stay.

“Keeping all of them together would mean we would have a better chance of making the next step next season than we had in previous years. But last year we already felt comfortable and could bring in the boys without losing players in the summer.”

Klopp knows that chopping and changing a squad is devastating to consistency. Liverpool have the strongest team in over a decade because a whole lot of planning has gone into bringing in the right type of player. Leaders are all over the pitch now. Liverpool’s new game plan is to hold onto their best players and only bring in exception additions.

The manager also highlighted the benefits to the younger players moving up to Melwood from the Academy. The level is sky high and their only choice is to push themselves to belong.

“That’s what you buy when you get these boys. I would like to say that I am responsible for a few of the skills of the boys but I am not. They brought it with them,” Klopp said.

“You have to always make the best of it, to bring it together, and link it up with all the other things you need.

“It’s fantastic, especially for the young boys like Rafa (Camacho), Curtis (Jones), Ki-Jana (Hoever) when they come in. They are a bit shocked (by the standard) and they adapt to it. That’s the best sign because it makes me sure they are ready. That’s really, really important. Keeping it over the whole year is a challenge.”

Liverpool are securing their top talent with deals that match their contributions and keeping a well-oiled machine together for further onslaughts domestically and in the Champions League. It would be fun to welcome a new dynamo to the team this month. But contract extensions for Andy Robertson, Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, Jordan Henderson, and Joe Gomez are pretty sweet improvements on their own.