Liverpool will fight “for everything” this season but manager Jurgen Klopp expects it to be a really tough battle between several clubs as his side bids to regain the Premier League title that Manchester City reclaimed last term.
While new signings, unlike their main rivals, have been kept to a minimum – France Under-21 defender Ibrahima Konate was announced back in May from Bundesliga side RB Leipzig – Liverpool have focussed on getting key players to sign new contracts.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander Arnold, Fabinho and notably, on Friday, Virgil van Dijk all agreed to new deals.
Klopp says they will all be essential to Liverpool’s title challenge and rediscovering the panache that saw them crowned champions in 2020 for the first time in three decades.
“Last year, the gap was pretty big (City had a 12-point advantage over second-placed Manchester United and 17 over Liverpool),” said Klopp at Friday’s press conference ahead of their opening Premier League match away on Saturday to newly-promoted Norwich.
Klopp is adamant the manner in which Liverpool battled successfully at the end of last season in securing their Champions League spot will serve them well in terms of the spirit it engendered among the squad.
Klopp said he is not surprised by Manchester City’s spending – they paid £100 million ($130 million) for England midfielder Jack Grealish and are believed to be ready to outdo that sum for Spurs’s England captain Harry Kane – but he is by Manchester United’s.
United have spent over £100 million on Jadon Sancho and Real Madrid’s French international defender Raphael Varane – the latter is undergoing a medical – with a central midfielder still on their menu.
(Supersport)
