Jurgen Klopp expects it to be “a quiet window” for Liverpool this month as he explained why a new centre-back or right-back was not signed, which he knows will not be “popular.”
A lot of modern football centres around transfers, and Klopp has been asked his fair share over the years when it comes to when and who the club may invest in.
The manager told members of the press on Friday, including the Echo, that “at the moment it is all fine” in relation to the squad and the January transfer window, with it expected to be a “quiet” month.
This is almost certainly the last window sporting director Jorg Schmadatke will oversee, and his job over both the summer and winter did not include landing a new right-back or centre-back.
And for Klopp, there were two obvious reasons why: Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah.
“A few of the top things I inherited when I was here was this connecting coach between the academy and first team,” he explained.
“In the moment when somebody is showing up a bit or needs to get rewarded, then they come up to us in training.
“Vitor is not saying it’s about numbers. Sometimes it’s a guy I’ve never seen before. We have a lot of good kids with us. Conor [Bradley] after the loan, and same for Jarell [Quansah], when the pre-season started they looked ready from the first game of pre-season.
“Conor had the injury out of the blue to be honest. It’s not easy to run with these boys and that held him back. We were desperately waiting for him to get back.
“It’s always the same thing, ‘You have to buy a right back so Trent can play in midfield, you have to buy a centre-half’.
“But we have Conor, we have Jarell. It’s not a popular opinion but if we had bought a right back or centre-half, these boys would not have shown.
“I told him I was waiting longer for the moment Conor could finally play than probably Conor was waiting for it, because I was just happy to give him that opportunity.”
Klopp’s proven himself more than aware of the reaction to certain decisions, but he will feel his call has been vindicated of late after Bradley’s return from injury and Quansah’s emergence.
Both aged 20, it is a lot of responsibility for the pair in two of the most important positions in this Liverpool side, though they are seizing the opportunities when they arise.
It is all you can ask of them, though links to centre-backs have been increasing of late in light of Joel Matip‘s serious knee injury, and only time will tell how this position evolves.
