Liverpool won’t use transfer market to combat midfield injury crisis, Jurgen Klopp confirms

Thiago is likely to be out for a month while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones are also sidelined

Richard Jolly
Senior Football Correspondent
Friday 12 August 2022 10:39 BST
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Thiago went off injured at Craven Cottage last weekend
Thiago went off injured at Craven Cottage last weekend (PA Wire)

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Jurgen Klopp has insisted Liverpool’s midfield injury problems will not force him to go back into the transfer market, saying if the right player was available they would have already bought him and arguing it is not stubbornness that is stopping him from signing.

The FA Cup winners were without four of their nine midfielders when Thiago Alcantara went off injured against Fulham on Saturday but Klopp is adamant he is satisfied with the depth and ability of his options.

Thiago is likely to be out for a month while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones are also sidelined, though Naby Keita has recovered from illness and should be available for Monday’s game against Crystal Palace.

But Klopp has maintained his position that he will not sign another midfielder this summer, explaining: “I am happy with the strength size and quality of my squad. Now it is the question how long the players will be out and there are different solutions. One, and there are plenty, is the transfer market, but the transfer market only makes sense if you can bring in the right player.

“We always would have done that from the first day of the transfer window. It is just in some cases not possible and in others extremely difficult. So that is why you don’t have to think about it. All the other solutions are inside the squad. We have now too many injuries, that is clear, but Naby will be back on Monday.

“I understand the questions but if there were the right solution for us, we would have done it already. We are not stubborn. People told me at the beginning of the season we lack a specific kind of midfielder, I didn’t understand that because if you search for specific things, you always lack something. If there would be the right player we would have done it but I don’t see it because we have had a lot of conversations already.”

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