Rough Guide to Liverpool Boss Jurgen Klopp's January Transfer History
A January transfer window with a new manager will bring much discussion among Liverpool supporters, and with Jurgen Klopp boasting a reputation as one of Europe's finest managerial talents—with experience of nurturing world-class players—expectations are likely to mount up.
This is Klopp's first foray into the English transfer market, and it could not come at a worse time for the German, with the yellow ties of Sky Sports and the rolled-down car windows of Harry Redknapp ensuring that the January transfer window is a frantic one on this ludicrous footballing island—far removed from the more placid climes of the continent and Klopp's former battleground, the Bundesliga, in particular.
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
Assessing the Liverpool squad objectively, the January transfer window comes at an important juncture, as the group Klopp inherited from Brendan Rodgers is in need of some upgrades—particularly in goal and the centre of defence.
Having endured his first months as Liverpool manager battling major injuries and a congested fixture schedule, Klopp hinted in conversation with Sky Sports in November that he could utilise the January market to flesh out his squad.
He said:
"The January transfer window is not the perfect one because you have no time to train. You pick a player, put him on the pitch and say, 'Come on, show your best performance.'
But if we need, we will do [transfers]. No problem.
I don't know what will happen in January, if we have more injuries it will be important, of course. But at this moment, there's no decision.
"
A month on from the former Borussia Dortmund manager's testimony, however, and David Maddock of the Mirror has suggested that "Klopp is reluctant to make any signings in the January window—despite being offered funds to bring in new players by [Liverpool's] American owners."
This could leave some Liverpool supporters disappointed, but is this typical of the German's approach to the January market?
Examining his history in the January transfer market with Dortmund—a club with similar status to Liverpool—could allow us to predict his movements in the new year.
Jurgen Klopp's Role in the Transfer Market
When in charge at Dortmund, Klopp did not work alone; the 48-year-old operated alongside sporting director Michael Zorc and chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke when it came to recruitment, as Klopp's agent Marc Kosicke told SPOX (h/t the Guardian) back in June.
"In Germany there is a clear separation between manager and sporting director and I think in principle this is very good. Jurgen does not like to speak to players’ agents or to carry out a transfer," Kosicke explained. "So we have to see which is the most useful arrangement."
When Klopp agreed to be Liverpool manager, he clearly found a useful arrangement—despite the club's notoriously prickly transfer committee structure serving as a byword for Rodgers' failure in his final 18 months at Anfield.
As he has shown in his first months as Liverpool manager, and during his time at Dortmund, Klopp is clearly comfortable working with what is provided.
However, as at Dortmund, it is crucial that Klopp has the last say on any incomings and outgoings. This is something that he explained during his first press conference as Reds manager, as reported by the Press Association (h/t This is Anfield) at the beginning of October:
"For me it is enough to have the first and the last word, the middle we can discuss everything. We only want to discuss about very good players, it is discussing on the highest level.
I am not a genius. I don’t know more than the rest of the world. I need the other people to get the perfect information and when we have this we will sign the player or sell a player.
It is really easy to handle this.
"
Klopp appears to be very much the same manager as he was at Dortmund: relaxed and focused on the job at hand, rather than keeping one eye on the future and looking to overhaul his squad at the nearest opportunity.
Just as he will likely work with head of technical performance Michael Edwards and chief executive Ian Ayre, two key players within Liverpool's committee setup, his relationship with Zorc was hugely influential at Dortmund.
The enthusiastic pairing likely shared the same vision of the January market, as Dortmund's sparse transfer history during Klopp's seven seasons at the Westfalenstadion suggests.
Klopp's January Signings: The Dortmund Era
For a manager who demands so much from his players both physically and emotionally, Klopp's desire for a winter break in the Premier League should come as no surprise.
"If you think we have too many matches, stop playing at Christmas. This tournament is not a problem. Only because there is no break is there a problem, maybe?" he told Dominic King of the Daily Mail in July, before adding, "There are many games, but the Europa League is not a problem for English teams. No. The Europa League is a great competition. No winter break might be the problem."
The Bundesliga's winter break is one of the key contributing factors to the likes of Dortmund and Bayern Munich's success in European competitions, as the added six weeks of rest provides players and managers alike a crucial stage to recharge and plot for success.
As such, Klopp's January transfer dealings while at Dortmund are decidedly slim, and in his seven seasons with the club, he largely spent the winter transfer windows pruning his squad of unhappy and unsuitable players.
Florian Kringe left for St. Pauli and Diego Klimowicz moved to Bochum in January of 2009, while two years later, long-serving reserve winger Yasin Oztekin joined Turkish side Genclerbirligi on a free transfer, with Moritz Leitner and Tamas Hajnal both leaving on loan, to Augsburg and Stuttgart, respectively.
In 2011/12, Mohamed Zidan joined Klopp's former club Mainz in a deal worth £280,000, while Damien Le Tallec moved to Nantes on a free transfer and Marc Hornschuh was loaned to Ingolstadt 04; the next season, Dortmund sold Ivan Perisic to VfL Wolfsburg for £5.6 million, while Chris Lowe joined Kaiserslautern for a modest £350,000.
Klopp's final January transfer window with the club saw the sale of Ji Dong-won to Augsburg, while Jannik Bandowski left for 1860 Munich on a six-month loan deal.
This allowed Klopp the freedom of the winter break to work on the fitness and tactical preparation of his current squad, free of the drama of major overhauls. Remarkably, in his seven years in charge at Dortmund, the German made only four major January signings.
Mats Hummels, a long-term fixture under Klopp, initially joined Dortmund on loan from Bayern Munich in January 2010. Three years later, the German utilised the temporary market once again to bring Nuri Sahin back to the club from Real Madrid—after his spell with Liverpool was cut short.
Klopp then sanctioned the signings of Milos Jojic (£1.5 million, from Partizan Belgrade) and Kevin Kampl (£8.4 million, from Red Bull Salzburg) in 2014 and 2015, respectively.
A big-money deal to bring Marco Reus to Dortmund from Borussia Monchengladbach was also secured in January of 2012, but the German winger did not join up with Klopp and his new team-mates until the summer.
By way of contrast, Dortmund signed 39 players in the summer months during Klopp's seven years at the club—and the failures of both Jojic and Kampl perhaps underline why the charismatic former Mainz defender has avoided the January market in his time as a manager.
It could well indicate how Klopp is likely to approach the upcoming transfer window on Merseyside, too.
Is Klopp Likely to Sign Players This January?
As Dortmund's opportunistic moves for a young Hummels and a stagnating Sahin showed during Klopp's tenure, the German is only likely to make moves in the January transfer window if the right players are available—money will not be spent for the sake of it, which is increasingly important given the prevalence of wealth in the Premier League following the introduction of the latest lucrative TV deal.
This is reinforced by Maddock's suggestion that Klopp "has not even requested a sit down with his Fenway Sports Group bosses to talk about potential targets."
"Unless an outstanding buy—such as his former Borussia Dortmund centre-half Neven Subotic—comes available in the New Year, then he has made clear he has faith in his current squad," Maddock added.
Instead, Klopp could be more likely to put deals in place for the summer, as with Reus, and his reported move for Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic, as relayed by Serbian publication Mondo (h/t the Telegraph), with the 19-year-old rejoining the Serbian outfit on loan until the end of the season, reinforces this notion.
With injuries to the likes of Philippe Coutinho, Jordan Henderson, Mamadou Sakho and Daniel Sturridge easing up in recent weeks, Klopp's squad looks in a relatively healthy position heading into January.
Furthermore, as a pragmatic manager primarily focussed on stabilising the club in his first season at Anfield, Klopp will no doubt prefer to focus on their development rather than muddy their rehabilitation by adding competition for their places.
The January transfer market is not an ideal period for recruitment, and as Klopp showed during his time at Dortmund, he seems to recognise this.
Klopp's January transfer history is very brief, and that is likely to continue in his new role at Liverpool.
Transfer information, including dates and values, via Transfermarkt.co.uk.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
