Klopp Not Interested in Rivals' Transfer Business

Liverpool have signed three players this summer, and while Mohamed Salah is undoubtedly a fine addition, finding a way to secure Virgil van Dijk and Naby Keïta would make this the club's best transfer window in a generation. Both talented players would be instant upgrades on existing squad members in their respective positions; moreover, these highly-rated players that appear to be ideal for quite a few rival clubs want to come to Anfield.

Despite Liverpool being busy trying to secure players at or heading towards their peak, questions zeroed in on what Jürgen Klopp thought of Everton presumably spending all that Romelu Lukaku money before he left to play for a club with heavyweight stature and history for the first time in his career. Unsurprisingly, Klopp made it clear where his focus was.

"First of all, I’m not interested in what other clubs are doing until we play them," Klopp said in response to a question about Everton. "So they can make the best business or the worst business, I’m not in it. I don’t know why they do the things they do, that’s why I’m completely fine.

"Yes, I heard, of course a few things that they have done. Strikers, good. Wayne Rooney, you don’t have to talk about. The centre-half came. Good. So a lot of really good business. (Davy) Klaasen. So it's all good.

"But, at the end of the day, just like us, they can only line up 11 players. Then we have to see what will happen. But all the teams have tried to get stronger.

"With Everton, usually derbies are really close games. I don’t think we have gone into any of the last few derbies thinking: ‘It's only Everton.’ No. There is a lot of respect and if they’ve done good business, well done.

"But when we face them we still want to win."

The choice cuts from Klopp, of course, were reserved for José Mourinho after the Manchester United manager's comments about the prospects of Liverpool and Chelsea with European football to consider next season. Both Klopp and Mourinho reached League Cup and Europa League finals in their first seasons at the two North West giants, but Liverpool fell short of the winning feeling that a great rival experienced last season. However, there may be a reason for a difference in fortunes.

"I’m not interested in what Jose Mourinho says," Klopp said. "Why should I talk about Manchester United? Jose is talking about us, yes.

"Okay, we had a season like Man United the year before. I don’t know if anybody asked us how it feels. Sorry that we lost the final yes, that's right. We played Sevilla, they played Ajax. That's the difference.

"So we suffered during the season. Right. The Europa League was hard. Yes, Chelsea will feel also the difference, they played something like 13 players last season. But it's also not my problem if they use only 11, well done.

"I don’t want to be part of this. I answer if you ask but I am not interested."

All of this is essentially diverting fluff to stop you from thinking about Naby Keïta and Virgil van Dijk, but the reality is that a club like Liverpool should at least try to exist to win. Liverpool may have had a more difficult Europa League campaign, but this summer offers an opportunity to set the squad right heading into what's effectively Klopp's third season at the club.

Mourinho can talk and Everton can try to sign Gylfi Sigurðsson for £50 million; however, Liverpool must only focus on the task at hand: signing players worthy to wear the number 4 and 8 shirts. It will be far easier to talk on the pitch with the right additions, ones that should help players at the club remember what it means to get an opportunity to play for Liverpool FC.