Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 8y

Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp ready to contend, says 'this is my squad now'

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Jurgen Klopp believes the players he had added to his Liverpool squad this summer gives them the chance to compete right from the off.

In his first summer in charge of the Reds, Klopp has welcomed seven new faces to the side -- in Sadio Mane, Loris, Karius, Ragnar Klavan, Georginio Wijnaldum, Marko Grujic, Joel Matip and goalkeeper Alex Manninger -- while letting 10 players depart Anfield in the process.

The German manager, who replaced Brendan Rodgers on Merseyside in October, feels his acquisitions can help the squad build on last season's two cup-final appearances and eighth-placed league finish.

"I'm not afraid of making decisions -- it's part of the job," Klopp said. "I am pretty sure I cannot make all the ones everyone likes, but I have to be convinced about it.

"At the end you are alone with the decision but it's no problem to me. I am happy with my team now, and all I can say is we will be a challenger, we will fight for everything, for every cup and what'll happen in the end we will see.

"Certainly at the moment we should not look for excuses and say things like 'I need another year' or things like that.

"We will try everything 100 percent and see what happens. We built this team only to be successful, not one where we say we will have to wait."

He added: "This is my squad now. After all the transfers, this time it is my team. There are probably no players here any more I don't want. There are no signings I didn't want, we have not sold anyone I didn't want to.

"And if you have seen them in training, there is a special quality that we did not have last year.

"Above all, you can see we have created a special atmosphere, not only in our team but with our fans."

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