Jurgen Klopp has opened up on Liverpool’s failed summer bids for Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.
Liverpool made bids for the duo in the summer as the Reds rebuilt in midfield, though missed out on both players to Premier League rivals Chelsea. Liverpool face Chelsea at Anfield on Wednesday night, where Klopp will come up against last summer’s targets.
The failure to sign the midfield pair saw Liverpool turn their attention to Wataru Endo, who joined alongside Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in an engine room revamp.
Ahead of facing Chelsea, Klopp discussed the club’s summer business at his pre-match press conference.
“We were interested in Bellingham and realised it would not happen,” Klopp said.
“The whole market for No 6s went up. Two No 6s left our club. The market heated up. We thought we could maybe do Caicedo. We’d already done Mac Allister before. So we went in, he had an emotional agreement already with Chelsea and Pochettino. Then Lavia had his own reasons. So we were there.
“Then we found our top solution. That’s what I meant [when I said], ‘we are lucky’. We found Wataru. All the time in our mind we had Stefan [Bajcetic].
“It was not clear at that moment he was so badly injured he could not feature at all. We already knew Macca could play the position. Dom was always on my radar.
“If one of the £100m [targets] had worked, there’s no chance to do another. So that door was open. That’s how it went. That’s what I meant when I said we are so lucky. Everything in the ‘if not’ scenario worked out.”
