Klopp: 'January transfers? We've got so many games before then!'
Jürgen Klopp insists the January transfer window is the last thing on his mind as Liverpool prepare to begin the busy festive period at Middlesbrough tonight.
The Reds travel to the Riverside Stadium for the first of five Premier League fixtures in 19 days looking to get back to winning ways, having taken one point from their last two outings against Bournemouth and West Ham United.
With several first-team regulars struggling with injury issues, youngsters Ovie Ejaria, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ben Woodburn were all named on Klopp’s bench for those games versus the Cherries and the Hammers.
However, while admitting that his squad is ‘far away from being the perfect situation’ at present, the boss is focused only on Liverpool’s upcoming matches as the most hectic time of the season gets underway.
“The least problem for me at the moment is the transfer window because we have already a lot of very important games. Should we wait until the transfer window opens or not? We have to sort it out now,” Klopp said.
“Players will come back, another will leave [through injury], we will see how another one develops and take our decisions. We take what we get.”
Ejaria, Alexander-Arnold and Woodburn impressed in last month’s EFL Cup quarter-final win over Leeds United, but all remained as unused substitutes against Bournemouth and West Ham.
Klopp explained that it is his duty to familiarise the teenage trio with Premier League football only when the time is right.
“I love our young players. They are brilliant, but Sunday was not a game to bring them in,” he added.
“We were fighting for the result. West Ham bring on [Andy] Carroll and we bring Ben or Ovie? That makes no sense.
“But we believe in them, of course, and we will use them for sure. It’s not perfect but what can I talk about?”