Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed precisely why he hasn't spent the summer chasing star players he managed at Borussia Dortmund, citing the specific example of letting Henrikh Mkhitaryan join Manchester United instead without trying to get involved.
Some Reds fans had hoped for some kind of mass Dortmund reunion on Merseyside, with everyone from Mario Gotze, Marco Reus, Neven Subotic, Shinji Kagawa and many others linked with the club at various times since Klopp arrived last October.
But Klopp has explained to the Liverpool Echo that he believes simply reuniting with players he already knows very well won't help him or them develop, whereas building new relationships will.
"If you have had players, you know more about them. You want to learn about other players. That's how it is," the popular German pointed out.
"We didn't look for players we had already worked with. If you do that, you know their good, their bad and you wonder whether you will do it again.
"It's not boring but you know everything about each other so how can you develop? Where is the next step? Where is the next push for development?
"We could have gone for a lot of players. But, first of all, you have to think: what do I need?"
Klopp steps in, stops the session and spells out exactly what he wants to see #LFCtour pic.twitter.com/uLM0xraimb
Specifically referring to Mkhitaryan, Klopp added, "I knew quite early that he was going [to Manchester United]. There was absolutely no reason for me to jump in there. That isn't how we work."
Liverpool have been extremely active in the transfer market this summer, with not one of the new arrivals having directly worked with Klopp in the past.
Georginio Wijnaldum and Sadio Mane were bought from other English clubs for the best part of £60m, while most of the others have joined from German clubs that Klopp would have witnessed from a distance in the Bundesliga.
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