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

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

Throughout his five years at Anfield headquarters, Klopp often swam against the tide of the public, preferring to do things his own way.

“I’m not a control freak,” he says in Liverpool’s new documentary “The End Of The Storm”. “I just think things should turn out in a specific way.”

Take, for example, his demeanor during the Reds’ run to the Club World Cup last year.

For many of those coasts, the mid-season trip to Qatar was an unnecessary risk to his side’s Premier League goals.

Rather than sending a youth squad to the Middle East and playing a Carabao Cup quarterfinal at Aston Villa, Klopp marched to his own drum.

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

Months later, Klopp would again face howls of derision when he revealed that an unwanted FA Cup replay would not be a reason to cancel a week off for him and his players.

A grueling months of football between December and January left the Reds squad eagerly anticipating a time off when a draw with Shrewsbury threw the prospect of an Anfield rerun.

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

Once again, Klopp ignored the noise from outside the Liverpool bunker to do what he felt was right. Once again, it turned out to be the right decision.

However, the biggest example of Klopp drowning outside clamor was when Liverpool gave up signing Virgil van Dijk in the summer of 2017.

Rather than seeking an alternative after degraded relations with Southampton, Klopp held on and waited.

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

Van Dijk’s £ 75million has since been credited with transforming Liverpool from contenders to champions.

A finalist spot at last year’s Ballon d’Or more than justified 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 demonstrates this more than the transfer market.

Faced with tremendous pressure to sink his toe behind his back during 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 what you can’t do,” Klopp said in August, reiterating a line he had supported for months.

The structuring of the deals for Diogo Jota and Thiago Alcantara – coupled with the club having recouped £ 50million from sales – was proof that the Reds boss was not lip-smacking the financial implications of the pandemic.

More often than not, Klopp has resisted the urge to succumb to those whose calls for more transfers are endless.

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

Mid-season earnings are a rarity for reds under German.

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

Marko Grujic was added in his first window before being loaned to Red Star Belgrade in 2016, but it’s the signing of another window – and the reasons for it – that could pique interest supporters almost five years later.

Steven Caulker’s arrival was a left fielder at the time, but the center-back was brought in to the club to help, you guessed it, a center-back injury crisis.

“It was very important to us. In our situation, “Klopp said at the time.” Four weeks ago we didn’t know we would have a problem with the centerbacks because they were all in the race.

“At the start of the season, Joe Gomez was also in the squad, so a fifth center-back – and then the situation completely changed.

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

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

“And it’s the same for Kolo Toure and it would mean that we are still in this situation, have we had enough or not? So we were like ‘Yes, good idea'”.

As Liverpool face the foreseeable future without Van Dijk and Gomez as Fabinho struggles and question marks remain over Joel Matip’s long-term sustainability, Klopp can feel a déjà vu.

Who should play at center-back against Leicester? Choose your duo in our quick survey HERE.

Names like Dayot Upamecano, Ozan Kabak and Ben White were all launched last month after Van Dijk found out that surgery was needed.

Privately at the time, Liverpool insisted that the situation was unlikely to be corrected in the transfer market, but did Gomez’s injury prove to be too much of a burden for a full-back serve central already overworked?

Klopp has rarely listened to those outside his inner circle on the verge of re-entering Liverpool as the preeminent name in English football.

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