Jurgen Klopp has responded to past comments he made criticising inflated fees in football after Liverpool agreed a £110m deal to sign Moises Caicedo.
Liverpool have reached an agreement with Brighton to sign the midfielder in a deal that will break the Premier League’s transfer record, eclipsing the £106.8m fee Chelsea paid to sign Enzo Fernandez in January.
Caicedo is set to become the Premier League’s fourth £100m player and Klopp has been asked for his view on the deal, following past criticism of record-breaking transfers.
Speaking about Manchester United’s £89m world-record signing of Paul Pogba in 2016, the German said: “The day that this is football, then I’m not in a job anymore.”
Klopp said that he has had to adapt to the changes in the ‘market’ and admits he was wrong to criticise the spending of other clubs.
“Everything changed. Do I like it? No. Did I realise I was wrong? Yes,” Klopp said at his pre-match press conference ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League opener with Chelsea.
“I’m not blaming anyone but it’s just the market.
“In the end, we as a club have to make sure that, with our resources, we get the best possible player.
“We aren’t in a dreamland and can’t just point at a player and get them to come in. Sometimes one door closes and another opens up.”
Liverpool start their season with a clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge and Klopp is anticipating a tough test against the west Londoners. Chelsea begin the season under the management of Mauricio Pochettino and Klopp was full of praise for his Argentine opponent.
“I think it’s two really good football teams facing each other. We watched Chelsea on their tour against Dortmund and Newcastle and we saw a lot of good things.
“They are really talented and we need to be prepared for that. It’s a home game for them and they want to show up under a new manager.
“Pochettino is a very good manager. You can see Pochettino’s play already in that team. We know what he does from Tottenham and you can see similarities.
“[Christopher] Nkunku was a key part of their plans and that’s unfortunate for the boy. That wasn’t something they planned for but they have really good offensive plans still.
“It’s a really competitive start for us and we don’t want to waste time. I’m more than 20 years in the business and people always say ‘you don’t know where you stand’ but I just want us to give it a proper try.”
