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| Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has agreed a contract extension until 2024, the Premier League club announced on Friday |
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp signed a new contract in order to project an image of security and stability for potential transfer targets.
The German has agreed a new deal which extends his current one, due to expire in 2022, to 2024 and while it was not a priority for him he felt it could be a key factor when it came to persuading new recruits to join.
Klopp is looking at the long-term picture, and while securing Red Bull Salzburg playmaker Takumi Minamino for a bargain ยฃ7.25million โ a deal which is virtually done aside from his medical โ appears to have been relatively straightforward for the reigning European champions, there will come a time when the managerโs influence will be key.
โThe club was asking for a while already if we could talk about an extension and I thought it makes sense before things are getting a bit intense โ not now, I was completely calm โ but maybe in the summer we would have started again,โ he said
โWith new players when you want to bring them in they ask โHow long is the manager going to be here?โ
โWe all wanted to avoid that so itโs done and I am really happy about that.
โI thought it was positive and good that people know I will be here a bit longer. It gives us stability.โ
Since arriving in 2015 Klopp has played such a key role in Liverpoolโs development and the assembling of a squad which is eight points clear at the top of the Premier League that extending his contract is a no-brainer.
The club is still on an upwards curve but such has been the way the manager has become embedded in every aspect of life inside and outside Anfield, he wants to be here for those times when things are not going so well.
โI feel the club is in a good place and we have the chance to develop,โ he added.
โThere are a lot of exciting things coming up with the new academy (and first team training base) and maybe a new stand.
โBut there will be cloudy days as well and you have to be there and make decisions and I feel very responsible for all the things here.
โWe know there will be problems in the future like there were in the past, but I think it makes sense someone who knows the club helps solve them than another guy having to do that.
โFour-and-a-half years from now sounds like forever in football. It would be then nine years, the longest spell Iโve ever been at a club.
โIt was not too bad till now but we donโt feel that it could not be better, so letโs try to make the best time of our lives. Enjoy the ride, enjoy the journey.โ
Klopp would not be drawn on the impending January arrival of Japan international Minamino.
โA very good player, I can say that, but I saw a few very good players on the Salzburg team, much more than I wanted,โ he said, before giving the game away by telling a Japanese journalist โmaybe we will see you more often nowโ.
His immediate concern is in central defence, where he has just two fit players in Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez for the visit of bottom side Watford after Dejan Lovren joined Joel Matip on the sidelines with a hamstring problem.
A couple of weeks ago Klopp ruled out dipping into the transfer market, and that may remain the case as he looks to come up with more creative solutions as midfielders Fabinho (currently out until the new year with an ankle problem) and Georginio Wijnaldum have previously played the position in emergencies.
โItโs a concern. At the moment we have two and we need to take care of them and wrap them in cotton wool and ask how they want to train,โ said the manager.
โWe have the kids too โ Ki-Jana (Hoever) and Sepp (Van Den Berg). We have โdefensively mindedโ midfielders where we can use different systems.
โI have a lot of ideas but I hope to not have to use them.โ
Press Association
