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(Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp says he would be interested in adding Barcelona captain Lionel Messi to his Premier League-winning team, but there is no chance that will happen due to the astronomical amount of money involved.
Messi shocked world football earlier this week when he expressed his desire to leave Barcelona after nearly two decades with the Catalan club.
When asked if he would like to bring the Argentine forward to Anfield, Klopp said: “Interest? Yeah, who doesn’t want Messi on their team? The numbers aren’t for us at all. We didn’t even start to think about it. No chance! But … good player. “
A study by French newspaper L’Equipe earlier this year said Messi earns 8.2 million euros a month from Barça, far more than Juventus striker Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris striker St Germain Neymar, who earn 4 , 5 million and 3 million respectively.
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, who finished 18 points behind champion Liverpool last season, appears to be the favorite to sign the six-time world player of the year who has won every major title with Barcelona.
Some of Messi’s best moments on the Camp Nou pitch were under the direction of former Barça Guardiola coach.
“It would make it even more difficult to beat them (City), which was already very difficult,” Klopp said at a news conference ahead of Saturday’s Community Shield clash with FA Cup champions Arsenal at Wembley.
“For the Premier League, it would be great to have the best player in the world in the league. I’m not sure the Premier League needs a boost, but it would be.
“It would also be interesting because Messi has never played in a league other than Spain. I would like to see him, but I’m not sure if I will.”
Both sets of players will kneel at Wembley in support of the Black Lives Matter campaign, which has made the news again after the Jacob Blake police shooting in Wisconsin on Sunday, an incident that has sparked widespread protests in sports across states. United.
“I’ve followed it in America, racism, Black Lives Matter, all these things, dealing with everything will stay with us for a long time,” Klopp said. “As long as people don’t really understand or understand it, we have to mention equality.”
Klopp confirmed that center-back Virgil van Dijk is fit to face Arsenal after recovering from a head injury sustained during Liverpool’s pre-season friendly with RB Salzburg.
“It doesn’t look good because it has the cut there, but other than that it should be fine,” Klopp added.
Jordan Henderson is also ready to play, but Trent Alexander-Arnold may be missing due to injury. “Trent is very close, but we have to make a decision on him tomorrow,” Klopp said.
With the transfer window open until October, Klopp said Liverpool “will constantly be looking for improvements” but is satisfied with the size of his team.
“We will see how much we can and want to spend,” he said.
(Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Edited by Toby Davis)
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