JURGEN KLOPP has lowered expectations about Liverpool’s January transfer window by insisting the club “cannot play Monopoly” or “splash the cash”.
But football fans have responded by highlighting that the acquisition of Cody Gakpo brings his net spend at Anfield to £235million.
Gakpo arrived from PSV last week for £35m as Klopp looks to plug the hole left by the injured Luis Diaz.
Following the signing of the 23-year-old Netherlands international, Klopp was quizzed about other potential signings in the January window.
But he was quick to shut down the possibility of an influx of arrivals.
Speaking in his pre-match press conference ahead of their clash with Brentford on Monday, he said: “I am now here seven years and every window is pretty much the same; we talk about these things as though money didn’t play a role.
“It is never like this. We sign an outstanding player like Cody Gakpo and then you read about the next player.
“We cannot play like Monopoly. Of course we cannot just spend and never could.
“It is a big part of my philosophy, working full of faith and trust with the players we have and not constantly telling them we need another player in the position.
“It is clear that you need real quality in all positions and two teams with the same level that you can rotate but people are surprised when we say we cannot start splashing the cash.
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“If there is something we can do and that means right player and financial situation, we will do it.”
Klopp has spent £680m since taking over at Liverpool in 2015, recouping £435m in sales.
Liverpool’s purchases include £75m on Virgil van Dijk, £67m on Alisson and £53m on Naby Keita.
They then paid Benfica £85m for Darwin Nunez in the summer.
And many people are not very happy with the picture Klopp is trying to paint when it comes to his club’s spending power.
One person said: “He’s the type to enjoy a good mental game. Didn’t he just drop a hundred million on a striker?”
Another added: “Well considering 60 per cent of the league have never bought one 60 million pound player – 4 sounds like a team spending money.”
A third said: “Diaz, Nunez and Gakpo since last Xmas. Man talks like he’s not being given a mountain of resources as it is.”
And a fourth responded: “He’s desperate to appear as an underdog, despite them spending hundreds of millions themselves.”
Liverpool beat Aston Villa and Leicester after Christmas to climb up to sixth in the Premier League table.
A win over Brentford would see them leapfrog Tottenham and move to within a single point of Manchester United in fourth.
