Football
Glenn Price, Liverpool correspondent 7y

Jurgen Klopp believes Liverpool's UCL progress will help in transfer market

LIVERPOOL -- Jurgen Klopp says reaching the group stages of the Champions League will help Liverpool out in the transfer market.

Liverpool comprehensively beat Hoffenheim 6-3 on aggregate in a two-legged Champions League playoff.

The Merseyside club have only signed one guaranteed starter in the form of Mohamed Salah this summer, while also recruiting Dominic Solanke and Andrew Robertson from Chelsea and Hull City, respectively, to add further options to the squad.

Klopp says participating in Europe's premier club competition will help Liverpool recruit elite players, while ensuring they keep hold of their current ones.

"It's a big influence on the transfer market, especially if you do it [qualify for the Champions League] more often," Klopp told a news conference.

"I said before the game that if you talk to players -- and players better than ours are difficult to find, I know a lot of people think differently, but we do the work and it's not easy to find 20 top players in each position -- they say: 'Oh if you play Champions League, it would be really great because the club is good, the manager is not too bad' and all this stuff.

"Even if you want to extend the contract of a player in the squad they say: 'We want to play Champions League.' And I always think: 'WTF?! It's your job to do it with us together. Don't ask us to do the job so you can play Champions League.'

"We do it together and that's what this team did. That's why I'm so happy about this -- 14 months of hard work and we did it. Nice!"

A first-half flurry of goals at Anfield saw Liverpool take a 3-0 lead after 21 minutes in the second leg with Hoffenheim to cement their place in Thursday's draw, where they will be placed in pot three.

Emre Can netted twice against the Bundesliga side, with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino adding the others for the Reds in a 4-2 victory.

When asked what it meant for Liverpool to be back in the Champions League, Klopp replied: "Yippee! Everything... what can I say?

"It's all that the club, the team, we worked for in the last 14 months. I know you will always find a few people who will say: 'It's just the Champions League or only the Champions League.' But we wanted to be part of it with all we have.

"I saw the boys play a few pieces of outstanding football. How it is in a game like this, especially against an opponent like Hoffenheim, you also have a few problems. That's how it is.

"But I'm really happy about the deserved qualification for the group stage."

^ Back to Top ^