Jurgen Klopp must change Liverpool’s transfer plan and break his golden rule – Paul Gorst

Jurgen Klopp has never bowed to populist opinion as Liverpool manager.

Throughout his five years in the Anfield hot seat, Klopp has often swam against the force of the public tide, preferring to do things his own way.

“I’m not a control fanatic,” he professes in Liverpool’s new documentary ‘The End Of The Storm’. “I think things should happen in a specific way.”

Take, for example, his handling during the Reds’ field trip to the Club World Cup last year.

For many on these shores, the mid-season trip to Qatar was an unnecessary risk to their team’s goals for the Premier League title.

Rather than send a youth team to the Middle East and contest the Carabao Cup quarter-finals at Aston Villa, Klopp marched at his own pace.

He would be rewarded for the courage of his convictions, as Liverpool won the only trophy that had escaped them before returning to England to reinforce their grip on the title with a 4-0 win at Leicester on Boxing Day.

A few months later, Klopp would once again face the howls of derision when he revealed that an unwanted replay of the FA Cup would be no reason to cancel a week off for him and his players.

A grueling couple of months of soccer between December and January left the Reds team eagerly awaiting some time off when a draw with Shrewsbury threw up the prospect of an Anfield replay.

Rather than reneging on the promise to his players, many of whom had vacations in store with their families, Klopp asked Neil Critchley to lead a youth team in a battle they would win.

Once again, Klopp ignored the noise outside Liverpool’s bunker to do what he saw fit. Once again, it was proven to be the right decision.

Yet perhaps the greatest example of how Klopp drowned out the outcry was when Liverpool walked away from signing Virgil van Dijk in the summer of 2017.

Rather than looking for an alternative after relations with Southampton deteriorated, Klopp held back and waited.

Six months later, despite much criticism, particularly after a 4-1 loss to Spurs, the Reds manager had his man.

Since then, the £ 75 million Van Dijk has been credited with transforming Liverpool from contender to champion.

A second-place spot at last year’s Ballon d’Or awards further vindicated Klopp’s strength of character to ignore calls to pursue another option at the time.

Yes, Klopp is his own man when it comes to big calls for his Liverpool side. No other area proves it more than the transfer market.

When faced with great pressure to dip his toe back in the summer months, Klopp’s stance was firm and consistent.

“Because of COVID-19, you have to think five times about what you can and cannot do,” Klopp said in August, reiterating a line that he had held for months.

The structuring of the deals for Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara, coupled with the fact that the club recovered £ 50m from sales, was proof that the Reds coach was not talking about the financial implications of the pandemic. .

Most of the time, Klopp has resisted the temptation to succumb to those whose requests for more transfers are endless.

But could Liverpool’s series of setbacks in defense this season force Klopp’s hand into the January market this time around?

Mid-season earnings are a rarity for the Reds under German leadership.

Through their four January at Anfield to date, only Van Dijk and Takumi Minamino can be considered as long-term senior additions.

Marko Grujic was added in his first window before being loaned back to Red Star Belgrade in 2016, but it was the signing of another that window, and the reasons for it, that could spark fan interest nearly five years later.

Steven Caulker’s arrival was from left field at the time, but the center-back was brought into the club to help, you guessed it, an injury crisis at center-field.

“It was very important to us. In our situation, “Klopp said at the time.” Four weeks ago we did not know that we would have a problem with the central halves because they were all in the race.

“At the beginning of the season, Joe Gomez was also on the team, so a fifth central midfielder, and then the situation changed completely.

“The situation is that Martin Skrtel will not be available for the next five weeks. Then we have the problem with Dejan Lovren.

“Then you have Mamadou Sakho, he can play, but he’s not perfect and you can’t bring him in three or four times in a row during the season.

“And it’s the same for Kolo Touré and that would mean we’re always in this situation, do we have enough or not? So we thought, ‘Yeah, good idea.

As Liverpool face the foreseeable future without Van Dijk and Gomez, at the same time that Fabinho is struggling and question marks remain about Joel Matip’s long-term durability, Klopp may feel a deja vu.

Who should play central against Leicester? Choose your duo in our quick survey HERE.

Names like Dayot Upamecano, Ozan Kabak and Ben White appeared last month after Van Dijk discovered that surgery would be necessary.

Privately at the time, Liverpool insisted the situation was unlikely to be rectified in the transfer market, but has Gomez’s injury proven too much of a burden for an already overworked central defense department?

Klopp has rarely listened to those outside his inner circle on his way to reinstating Liverpool as the preeminent name in English football.

Their next move, however, could decide whether or not they stay there.