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Klopp reacts to Haaland to Man City reports
While Man City fans -- and many others -- wait for the club to "#announceHaaland,” City’s direct rivals are addressing the very idea of Borussia Dortmund’s goal-a-game striker moving to the Premier League title favorites.
“We play against all the other teams, yes, but if Erling Haaland goes there that will not weaken them, definitely not,” Klopp said ahead of Liverpool’s Tuesday match at Aston Villa. “I know in the moment that other people talk about money, but this transfer will set new levels. Let me say this.”
Klopp is nothing if not a strategist and this extends to off-field issues, too, because it’s difficult to create an underdog mentality in a team that spends as much as Liverpool. It just so happens that the easiest targets are 10 or so teams who spend more, two of whom are in Manchester.
“It’s not about City to define if we can be happy or not,” Klopp said Monday. “It’s about us and what we can make of it. ... You have so many opportunities and so many different ways to win a football game. We have to find just one. It’s possible obviously and you can do that. You face City in two or three competitions, Champions League - six times a year, more often than all the rest.”
If we’re honest, between Klopp’s propensity for lamenting Liverpool’s “non-rich” status and Pep Guardiola pretending that everyone wants Liverpool to win, the pair could use some classes in how the world really perceives them.
Anyway...
Bayern Munich interested in Sadio Mane
While there’s been plenty of focus on Liverpool’s Egyptian King, Mohamed Salah, the man who bested him in two African competitions hasn’t been operated on a much lower plane.
Sadio Mane, like Salah, is no Spring chicken and so negotiations over a new deal at Liverpool have not been flying forward at an easy speed. And Sky Sports says that Bayern Munich wants to bring the Senegalese star to Germany ahead of his contract expiration at the end of next season.
While Salah has 22 goals and 13 assists in PL play compared Mane’s 14 and 2, Mane is averaging more tackles, interceptions, clearances, and fouls drawn per game.
Liverpool may have to decide this summer whether it’s going to spend big on contracts for Mane and/or Salah while risking an overturning of the contract apple cart, or whether they can find more players for their system like Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz.
It may be, as odd as this sounds to the Anfield set, a much better idea to sell their two stars and invest wisely, trusting Klopp and his team’s recruitment pitch. After all, with Klopp not taking a pay rise and his stars looking for one, he’ll never have stronger standing.