Jurgen Klopp says he has changed his mind over Paul Pogba’s transfer fee after going on a Liverpool spending spree.
He has shrugged off criticism of Liverpool’s transfer business after he had previously said he would do things differently to big-spending rivals.
Two years ago, when Manchester United were set to spend a then record fee of £89 million on French midfielder Paul Pogba, Klopp ironically suggested he would quit the game if those large fees became the norm.
READ MORE: Klopp’s transfer hypocrisy smacks of a man scared of failure
What was he thinking?
This summer Klopp has paid a world-record fee for a goalkeeper to sign Alisson from Roma in a deal worth up to £65 million, while in January he broke the bank for Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk by spending £75 million.
“We don’t care what the world around us is thinking,” Klopp told the BBC, as per Manchester Evening News.
“Like Manchester United didn’t care what I said.
“It is only an opinion in that moment. Did I change my opinion? Yes. That is true. But it is better to change your opinion than never have one.
“Whatever people say and bring it up again and again, I have had worse days in my life and worse things happen to me. We have the players we wanted. I am fine with that.”
Klopp added: “The world has changed completely.
“Better players than we already have are not waiting around the corner. You can’t get the world-class goalkeeper who had a really long contract at Roma on a free transfer.
“It is not for me to say we don’t want to pay big money because in the end Liverpool is not successful. That doesn’t work.”
Credit to Pogba for finally eating his words. It was only a matter of time before he looked a hypocrite in today’s market, where you simply cannot compete unless you match the spending power of your rivals.
And, with the transfer world gone crazy, I’d like to see players make use of their youngsters. Maybe see the football governing bodies introduce a rule suggesting one academy graduate must start each league game going forward?
That would be interesting…
