MY ACCOUNT
Jurgen Klopp accepts Liverpool may have to “step aside and do different stuff” in the transfer market amid reports they have given up hope of signing Jude Bellingham.
Speaking ahead of Monday’s Premier League trip to Leeds, the Reds boss only briefly directly addressed the club are out of the running for Borussia Dortmund and England star Bellingham.
Reports earlier in the week suggested Liverpool have decided the 19-year-old midfielder would take up too much of their budget in a transfer window in which they will need to sign more than one player.
He said: “It’s nothing to say about, to be honest.
“If we don’t speak about players we sign, or not sign, why would we now speak about this kind of speculation and this kind of news? So it’s really nothing to say about.”
He did, however, speak in broader terms about the prospect of chasing top players and how sometimes clubs, even those of Liverpool’s stature, cannot expect to land all their targets.
Bellingham has been a target of Europe’s elite clubs after shining for club and country — and Liverpool had been seen as front-runners for his signature for what would almost certainly be a nine-figure fee.
But the Reds look likely to miss out on next season’s Champions League after a disappointing campaign and they may be readjusting their targets.
Klopp added: “It’s not about Jude Bellingham, my answer now, definitely not. I never understood why we constantly talk about things we theoretically cannot have.
“We cannot have six players in the summer where everyone’s £100million, for example. Everybody would say that’s kind of clear.
“You have to realise what you can do and then you have to work with that. So how much money do we have available? And then you have to work with that.
“We are not children. If you ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas and they tell you, ‘I want to have a Ferrari’, you wouldn’t say, ‘That’s a good idea’, you would say, ‘That’s too expensive and anyway, you cannot drive it’.
“That’s how it is. If this kid is then his whole life unhappy because he cannot get a Ferrari that would be a sad life. But it’s just what can you do, then you do it and you work with that.
“Whatever I want, what we need and what we want, we try absolutely everything to get it.
“But there are moments where you have to accept this or that is not possible for us and just step aside and do different stuff.”
Klopp also touched on Sunday’s half-time flashpoint in Liverpool’s game against Arsenal where assistant referee Constantine Hatzidakis appeared to aim an elbow at Liverpool defender Andy Robertson.
Hatzidakis will face no punishment for the unusual incident, the FA said on Thursday.
Klopp said: “I think it’s been dealt with really well.
“I wasn’t aware of it during the game. I spoke to Robbo and all the other guys, not to the assistant, but now we can carry on.”
