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It's no longer a game of Whose Signing Is It Anyway? at Anfield. The pursuit of Mario Gotze provides further evidence of the former Borussia Dortmund manager's authority.
It was one of the first questions fired at Jurgen Klopp during his Liverpool unveiling last October, and one he immediately insisted would cause no issues. How would the charismatic German work with the club’s often-derided transfer committee?
At the Reds Lounge in Anfield’s Centenary Stand, he laughed off the “crazy discussion” as a collaborative approach to player recruitment “was not a problem for 10 seconds.”
Klopp explained: “We talked about it. For me it is enough that I have the first and the last words. We only want to discuss about very good players.
“I’m not an idiot, I don’t know more than the rest of the world. I need the people who get the perfect information.”
While the new Reds boss thought the scepticism around Liverpool’s communal strategy was ridiculous, it was a crucial query given how the narrative around transfers strangled his predecessor Brendan Rodgers’ three-year tenure.
Every summer under the Northern Irishman seemed to be a game of Whose Signing Is It Anyway? and despite his insistence to the contrary, it was evident his authority was not as expansive as he imagined. Already, just short of six months in charge, Klopp has illustrated such divisive internal sparring over transfer targets will not be a feature of his spell. There is no longer question marks over whose word at the club carries most weight in the market.
Liverpool’s two confirmed signings for next season, Serbian starlet Marko Grujic and Schalke defender Joel Matip, were both pursued under his instruction. The 48-year-old is a big admirer of Poland international Piotr Zielinski as well as Leicester’s promising left-back Ben Chilwell, whom the Reds continue to closely monitor. But perhaps the biggest indication of Klopp’s clout has been Mario Gotze’s status as Liverpool’s premier target this summer with the manager enthused by a reunion with the World Cup winner.
It was the stubbly tactician who decided to promote the versatile forward from Borussia Dortmund’s academy to their first-team in 2009 before helping him emerge as one of Europe’s foremost talents. Together they lifted two Bundesliga titles, a DFB-Pokal and finished as runners-up in the 2012-13 Champions League before Gotze departed for Bayern Munich in a move Klopp described as “like a heart attack” three summers ago.
The 23-year-old has only played 669 minutes in all competitions this season under outgoing boss Pep Guardiola due to a groin injury allied to the intense competition for places in the German giants attack. Despite Gotze’s diminished appearances, he has still contributed two assists and four goals in 12 games - with two in two in the Champions League.
For too long, Reds supporters have watched their superstar players leave the club, and seeing a stellar name actually enter rather than exit Melwood in the summer will be warmly welcomed. Liverpool’s confidence in securing Gotze, who enters the final year of his contract in June, is not only a sign of Klopp’s authority but also his attraction.
In Steven Gerrard’s autobiography, the former skipper detailed how he was asked to text the likes of Willian, Alexis Sanchez and Toni Kroos to entice them to consider a switch to Anfield. The response would always contain a reference to the Champions League, but now Liverpool are in a position where players have publicly and privately declared their desire to work with Klopp without the security of playing amongst Europe’s elite.
Gotze invited his former boss to make an official approach for him back in January and since then has confidentially conversed about linking up with him again. The BVB youth product is assured of Klopp’s ability to restore Liverpool as a continental powerhouse having witnessed him do the same at Signal Iduna Park.
Zielinski, meanwhile, has admitted doing his research on playing under the German despite generating plenty of interest from Juventus, Napoli and Roma.
Grujic detailed how a phone call from Klopp convinced him not to consider any club but Liverpool. And after discussions with the Stuttgart native, Matip decided against extending his terms with Schalke to sign a pre-contract with the Premier League side.
For all Klopp’s charisma, he has also displayed a strong hand. The manager has demonstrated he will not field Christian Benteke purely on the basis of his £32.5 million price tag and it’ll be hugely surprising if the Belgian striker is lining up under him again next season. Adam Bogdan’s blundering afternoon in the 3-0 beating at Watford was his last in goal for the club, and the others that haven’t shaped up, know they will be shipped out.
Beyond the shuffle of personnel, Liverpool’s pre-season plans have been heavily scaled back in comparison to previous years with the manager insisting fitness trumps commercial benefits ahead of his first full campaign in charge.
And if Gotze is indeed representing the club the start of 2016-17, then the discussion over Klopp and the transfer committee was as crazy as the manager described.
He’ll have had the first and final word on that too.
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