Jürgen Klopp has said he expects harder decisions and angrier players at Liverpool this season because of increased competition for places, a situation he believes will improve the entire squad.
Liverpool have signed only three players this summer – Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke and Andrew Robertson – but Klopp believes their arrival, the emergence of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Woodburn and Ryan Kent, plus a settled squad, will intensify competition. There remains the prospect of further signings, with Liverpool hoping to secure Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for what would be a club-record fee.
Klopp anticipates several players will be unhappy with their first-team opportunities but with a place in the Champions League to secure – Liverpool discover their play-off opponents on Friday – it is a situation he welcomes.
The Liverpool manager said: “We want to build on the same base as last year. I’m not in any doubt about that. Everybody thought: ‘He’s going, he’s going, he’s going’ but so far nobody is going. If we stay together like this there will be a few hard decisions because they can’t start all together. Then we have to see how this works. Be angry at me no problem but stay confident. That is important. Three days later there is another game so be there again. There will be a lot of challenges.”
Despite frustration over the stalled pursuit of Van Dijk and RB Leipzig’s refusal to sell the midfielder Naby Keïta, Klopp insists improvement can come from within this season.
“The plan is that they all make the next step,” he said. “Hopefully it’s like this. Phil [Coutinho] has been outstanding so far and a few others. It is about how do we react when it doesn’t work in our direction? That’s when it is more difficult. If you lose a game, then lose another game then it is: ‘Are we still strong?’ or it’s: ‘No, we are shaky’. I said we always want to develop this team and there are two things to do: signings and training. We did both. The signings are nice – either they play or they push another player. But now it’s more difficult to play all the time.”
One player with an uncertain long-term future at Liverpool is Emre Can, who has entered the final year of his contract. Klopp would prefer to lose the Germany midfielder on a free next summer than sanction his departure before this season but remains hopeful a new deal will be signed. The manager said: “We are in talks. I speak to him every day, not about the contract but I speak to him. From my point of view everything is fine at the moment.”
Liverpool returned from Germany on Thursday, having competed in the Audi Cup in Munich, and will play their final pre-season game in Dublin on Saturday against Athletic Bilbao. Daniel Sturridge is expected to have a scan before then on the thigh problem he sustained when scoring against Bayern Munich on Tuesday.