Jurgen Klopp Admits Pressure Is on to End Liverpool Trophy Drought

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp knows there will be big pressure on him in 2018-19 to lead the Reds to their first silverware since 2012, especially after spending almost £250 million on transfers in 2018 alone.

Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson have all joined the club in the last two transfer windows and, when asked if the pressure is now on for a return on that investment, Klopp said, per John Percy in the Telegraph:

"You are right and people will say that. It is the next step [to win a trophy]. It would be the next step, and we need to be ready for that. I cannot give guarantees here, but I understand if people think that. I know about the expectations, and that is completely normal.

"We expect more from ourselves. We will go again for the championship and each kind of cup, but that does not mean I can sit here and we will get it. We have the highest ambitions, 100 per cent."

Klopp has overseen a major overhaul of the Liverpool squad since succeeding Brendan Rodgers in October 2015.

He has also led the Anfield outfit to three cup finals—the 2015-16 League Cup, 2015-16 UEFA Europa League and the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League—but Liverpool have lost them all.

In the past he has had the excuse that his squad is a work in progress and the Reds do not have the financial clout to compete with the likes of Manchester City, but that is no longer the case. 

Per James Robson of the Manchester Evening News, Klopp's recent spending has changed expectations:

Liverpool broke the world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper to sign Alisson for £65 million and have spent significantly more in the summer transfer window so far than top-six rivals City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. 

The signing of Brazil's No. 1 from Roma could potentially be the club's most important capture of recent seasons as they have long been hamstrung by the absence of a genuinely top-class goalkeeper. 

Loris Karius took over the starting spot between the posts from Simon Mignolet midway through last season and impressed until he made two huge blunders as Liverpool lost 3-1 to Real Madrid in the Champions League final back in May.

Pre-season performances have proved that Karius is low on confidence, and Liverpool would have had little chance of making a decent start to 2018-19 without signing Alisson.