A defiant Jurgen Klopp has stated that Liverpool “will not be a regular outside of the Champions League” if they fail to secure fourth this season.
Jurgen Klopp said: “This club will not be regular outside of the Champions League. This year is difficult, we know that, but the potential and the power of the club is a completely different one. The team we have, the squad we have together, if they are not all injured, is a different one to the team 10 years ago (under Rafa Benitez), I don’t know that too well or whatever. But we are ready to do battle in this era and with the team we have together. This is a season where you have momentum and we never really got it, that is true. But it says nothing about the future, this club is in a really good position. In difficult times, obviously, but in a better position than other clubs I would say. And I understand another thing about what happened in the past, but what I can say, nobody has to worry about the future of the club because it is in good hands and we have a really good team together. That is obviously the best basis for a good future together.”
Speaking earlier this week to preview the Chelsea game, Klopp admitted the funds provided by Champions League qualification were vital to the club’s plans to recruit this summer. But the German said he won’t be overly impacted by a failure to finish inside the top four as he rejected the idea his star players would agitate to leave if that was the case.
Jurgen Klopp added: “I understand and respect all the questions but this is nothing we have to worry about. It was always like this. I know that we have loyalty of the players. It’s not a situation now where a player says to me ‘next year we don’t have Champions League so I have to leave’. That will not happen. I know them well enough for that not to happen because the club is in a different situation. It will not be an issue with new players, I can’t see that. We said it years back that if a player doesn’t want to come here because we don’t play Champions League next year then I don’t want them. And if a player wants to leave because we don’t have Champions League then I don’t want him. It’s not a personal thing but it is always like this. You always need to find the right squad for the challenges you face and then you go for it, so it is nothing I worry about. We all expect more from us to be honest. We are pretty realistic about the things we do and I don’t feel that the team leaves me alone to stand in the fire, I am not sure of the right saying, but it is just how it is. In England the situation is like this where nobody above the manager gives interviews. In Germany this situation is typically that the president, CEO or sporting director gives an interview and faces questions over whether someone is the right coach. They have to say ‘oh yes, we trust him’ and all these kinds of things and it’s like you feel in the first moment when they have to say that then [the manager] is already halfway out of the door. The situation in England is different and in the club pretty clear as well. The owners want me to sort the situation and I want to sort the situation together with the players, that is the plan.”
