Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool were ‘lucky’ after failing to sign Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia (Getty)
Jurgen Klopp fired a dig at Chelsea midfielders Moises Caicedo and Romeo Laviaover their decision to reject Liverpool in the summer transfer window.
Liverpool had a £111 million deal agreed with Brighton in August but Caicedo turned down a move to Anfield and ended up joining Chelsea for £115m.
Klopp’s side suffered further frustration just days later when Chelsea won the race to sign Lavia from Southampton. Liverpool had multiple offers for the 19-year-old rejected before Chelsea agreed a £58m transfer fee.
During a Q&A in front of Liverpool supporters at Anfield on Monday evening, Klopp shared a laugh with fans as he referenced ‘other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool’ when talking about the decision to sign Wataru Endo.
‘The summer we had with a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here between us I can say: ‘My god we were lucky’,’ Klopp said.
‘We didn’t know that in the moment, to be honest, we didn’t realise in that moment. But I am really happy it worked out like that. You never know if it will work out like that.
‘I had an extremely good feeling before we started pre-season, we already had Macca and Dom already in and then we knew there was a chance for Ryan. Then we obviously realised other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool… yeah, you see what happens.
‘And then we found Endo. He’s an exceptional player, he is, absolutely. He’s 30 years old, experienced, captain of Japan and it’s not possible, sure [he’s] not the first pick because the transfer market is like that, we don’t go for a 30-year-old player who plays in Germany and nearly got relegated. But thank god we looked about things twice and had a deeper look and got this boy and he wanted to come definitely and that helps.
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‘Now we have a squad together, a new leadership group, if you want, with very experienced players, still young some of them and a group around who is full of desire, full of passion who will give everything to this club.
‘So that is the start and now we have to try to make something special happen.’
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‘The summer we had with a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here between us I can say: ‘My god we were lucky’.’
