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Liverpool Must Plan for Summer Signings Now, Says Klopp

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
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Liverpool Must Plan for Summer Signings Now, Says Klopp

Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp watches his players warming up before the UEFA Champions League, Round of 16, 1st leg match between Liverpool FC and Real Madrid in Liverpool, Britain, 21 February 2023. (EPA)

Liverpool have to start working on their player recruitment plans for the summer transfer window regardless of their Champions League status next season, manager Juergen Klopp said, highlighting the spending power of other Premier League clubs.

Liverpool lost 5-2 to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 clash and they are eighth in the league, seven points adrift of the fourth spot which secures Champions League qualification, albeit with two games in hand.

"I'm sorry that I cannot guarantee Champions League at this moment but we fight for it and it is not done yet," Klopp told reporters.

"But it is tricky and it will be a late decision. We have to start work earlier before we know where we will end up position-wise and European competition-wise. These things are clear."

Liverpool are six-times Champions League winners, last lifting the trophy in 2018-19.

"I think we played five years in a row in the Champions League, which is massive money, and went to the final three times in that time, which is also massive from a money point of view," added Klopp, whose team play at Crystal Palace later on Saturday.

"We built a stand, we built a training ground, and the club is in a really good place, but around us obviously a few people (clubs) are speeding up a little bit and you cannot ignore that. We cannot ignore these kind of things."

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Klopp Hopeful Salah will Agree New Liverpool Deal

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Manchester, England. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Manchester, England. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
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Klopp Hopeful Salah will Agree New Liverpool Deal

Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Manchester, England. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)
Liverpool's Mohamed Salah celebrates after scoring his side's third goal during the English Premier League soccer match between Manchester United and Liverpool at Old Trafford, Sunday, Sept. 1, 2024, in Manchester, England. (AP Photo/Dave Thompson)

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expressed hope that Mohamed Salah will sign a new contract to stay at Anfield beyond the end of this season.

"I hope he stays. He is a fantastic player, a fantastic human being, an outstanding athlete, the best ambassador your country could have. So I hope he will stay at Liverpool," Klopp replied to a question about Salah from an Egyptian journalist during a press conference in Austria.

Klopp was speaking at his unveiling as Red Bull's head of global soccer, a role in which he will oversee the energy drinks conglomerate's football empire, AFP reported.

The German is starting out in the position having left Liverpool at the end of last season, after close to nine years as the club's manager.

Red Bull controls clubs in several countries around the world, including RB Leipzig in Klopp's native Germany, while it recently acquired a minority stake in French second-tier side Paris FC.

Klopp reiterated that he felt it was the right time to step down at Anfield and said he did not miss the daily grind of club management.

"I am more than happy not to be there," he said.

"It is really great that they are doing so well, I wish them all the best. I watch as many games as I can.

"It is great football. Even if you don't support Liverpool right now you had better watch them because it is really top football, maybe the best balanced in the world right now."

The former Borussia Dortmund coach added that he hoped Salah's fellow stars Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold would also choose to extend their contracts, which expire at the end of the season too.

"I am so happy I am not in charge in that situation, having to answer these questions," he sighed.

"From my point of view I would love all three of them to extend their contracts but I don't know, they didn't tell me."

Asked if he could try to sign any of them for the Red Bull empire, which includes New York Red Bulls in Major League Soccer, he responded with a touch of irony:

"Oh yeah. Virgil I am sure would love to have five more years at Liverpool and then play from 41 to 44 for New York Red Bulls because he probably underestimates US football.

"Mo, yes I would love to, but I don't think we have a chance to pay him to be honest."

"I am just really happy I am no longer a part of it."