LONDON, Sept 18 ― Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has stressed that Thiago Alcantara's highly-anticipated arrival at Anfield does not mean the club will be forced to sell a player in the current transfer window.
British media reported the Premier League champions have agreed a transfer fee worth £20 million (RM106.6 million) plus £5 million in add-ons with Bayern for Thiago, who is expected to sign a four-year deal with Liverpool.
Thiago bid farewell to Bayern in an open letter today, with Klopp hinting that an announcement confirming the signing is imminent.
“It's not official until it's announced. It looks quite promising,” Klopp told a news conference ahead of Sunday's trip to Chelsea. “It might be useful for fans to look at LFC channels over the day.”
Thiago will join an already bulging Liverpool midfield alongside Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Naby Keita, James Milner, Curtis Jones, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Xherdan Shaqiri and Marko Grujic.
Wijnaldum has been linked with a move to Barcelona but Klopp is happy to retain all his players this season.
“If (the Thiago deal) happens, there's no impact on anybody else's future in a negative way,” he said.
Thiago will be Liverpool's second recruit in the close season, a stark contrast to Sunday's opponents Chelsea, who have spent more than £200 million on half a dozen new signings as Frank Lampard rebuilds his squad.
Although Klopp recently said Liverpool were different from “clubs owned by countries and oligarchs”, he maintains he has no problems with how Lampard and Chelsea do their business.
“There is no rivalry. You make a story that I said something about the transfer business of Chelsea,” Klopp said.
“What I said is that in the situation we're in, we cannot deal with the situation like other clubs - one of them was Chelsea. I respect a lot what he is doing.” ― Reuters
