Liverpool transfer news: Jurgen Klopp reveals he turned down Jan Oblak move over £89m price tag
The Reds boss instead chose to break the world transfer record for a goalkeeper with a £67m deal for Brazilian international Alisson
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Jurgen Klopp has once again defended Liverpool's transfer spending and reveals he turned down a move for Atletico Madrid's Jan Oblak over the prohibitive price tag.
The Reds boss instead chose to break the world transfer record for a goalkeeper with a £67m deal for Brazilian international Alisson as part of a summer spending spree that has seen four new faces arrive at Anfield.
Klopp believes the world-record fee was a necessity in a small market place and said there were even more costly options out there.
"Everybody thinks it's a lot of money. It is a lot of money, but he could've left for crazy money," Klopp told ESPN FC. "The clause for Oblak for example is 100m euros (£89m), so nice!
"The goalkeeper market is different because it's not each year that there is anybody available. We didn't know exactly if Alisson is available or not, but from a specific moment we realised obviously he is available and that's the moment when we decided we want to go for him."
Klopp has had problems with goalkeepers, with Loris Karius taking over from Simon Mignolet midway through last season and doing a good enough job until two huge mistakes in the Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
It was later revealed Karius had been suffering from concussion and, while it intensified the need for change, the manager was only prepared to consider a new goalkeeper if a significant upgrade could be found.
"We are really fine with our goalkeepers. So there's no doubts (about) Simon Mignolet - big quality, absolutely Premier League highest-level quality, Loris Karius as well," he added.
"Yes, we all know what happened in the final, but we know as well why it's not about that. It's not the reason (for signing Alisson).
"We really wanted to bring in a player which we didn't have before to be honest and that's what happened with Alisson."
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