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Liverpool transfer news: Jurgen Klopp says Reds can't spend money this summer; will look to youngsters to fill squad
Jurgen Klopp says champions Liverpool can't spend millions on new signings this summer and there are several youngsters that could make the step up next season.
Liverpool ended their 30-year title drought last week and almost immediately the new Premier League champions were being hailed as the new dominant force in the division.
The squad at Anfield is not as big in depth or quality as the likes of Manchester City, and the coronavirus crisis means they cannot now spend big money this summer to try and stay on top.
Financial worries saw them pull out of their proposed move for Timo Werner, who instead went to Chelsea, and with the likes of Adam Lallana and Zherdan Shaqiri set to leave there will be empty spaces to fill in Klopp's squad.
Those holes, though, will not be filled by expensive signings.
"Covid has of course influenced both sides with ins and outs, that is completely normal, and it's just not likely that it will be the most busy summer in the world," Klopp said.
"But maybe at a later point in the year, if the transfer window is still open, we will know more. But this squad...look at it.
"It is not a squad you have to change now and say 'OK, we need this position and this position'.
"We don't have a first XI, I say we have a first 16 or 17, they can all play to the same level. But we have to use this, 100 per cent.
"We cannot spend millions and millions and millions because we want to or we think it is nice to do. We never wanted that."
No big spending for two years at Liverpool
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker is the last big-money signings Liverpool have made, back in the summer of 2018, with Klopp not significantly adding his group since then.
Takumi Minamino is the most costly addition at just £7.25m while youngsters Harvey Elliott and Sepp Van Den Berg have also come in, and it is towards the young players that Klopp will look as the team get creative.
During that time the club has invested in longer contracts for their key personnel, meaning they spent a Premier League-high £30m on agents fees last year.
And Klopp suggested the continued rise of youngsters within and around the first team deserves further exploration.
The likes of Wales under-19 international Neco Williams becoming Trent Alexander-Arnold's deputy and exciting Liverpool-born academy graduate Curtis Jones and fellow young forward Elliott fully integrating themselves into the team remains a realistic possibility.
"We want to strengthen this squad and this squad is strong. The problem with a strong squad is how do you improve a strong squad in the transfer market?" added Klopp.
"It works with money, obviously, that is possible. But it never works only with money.
"You have to be creative and we try to be creative. We try to find solutions internally and there is still a lot to come: we have three or four players who can make big steps."
Can Reds win it again?
Barely had Liverpool been crowned champions following Manchester City's defeat at Chelsea last Thursday and questions were being asked about whether this was the start of a new era of domination, last seen under Sir Alex Ferguson with arch-rivals Manchester United.
Klopp knows the expectation will be greater on his side next season but insists he will not even think about defending their title.
"I have heard people say it is only a real thing if we win twice in a row, but that is really funny. That is obviously an English thing," he said.
"When we (former club Borussia Dortmund) became champions in 2011 nobody told us we had to become champions again.
"People may expect from us to win the league again. That is possible, I don't know, but when I think of next year I don't think about winning it again.
"That doesn't mean we don't want it, only that there are a lot of steps to go between now and then."
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