Klopp fires dig at Chelsea duo Caicedo and Lavia after Liverpool transfer snubs
Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Liverpool were "lucky" to miss out on the signings of Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia to Chelsea.
Both Caicedo and Lavia were targets for Liverpool during the summer transfer window, only for the midfield duo - then of Brighton and Southampton respectively - to end up in West London for a combined sum of £173million. It left Klopp's side to sign relatively unknown Stuttgart ace Wataru Endo for a modest £15m to bolster their defensive midfield options, but now that the 30-year-old Japan international has impressed, the Reds boss is more than happy with how things played out.
During a Q&A in front of Liverpool supporters on Monday, as their expanded Anfield Road End stand was tested, Klopp was asked about creating "Liverpool 2.0" this season and shared a laugh with fans over missing out on certain targets. "The summer we had with a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here between us I can say, 'My god, we were lucky'," the German revealed.
"We didn't know that in the moment, to be honest, we didn't realise in that moment. But I am really happy it worked out like that. You never know if it will work out like that."
Klopp, who had to deal with the losses of five central midfielders over the summer - including captain Jordan Henderson, linchpin Fabinho and long-serving stalwart James Milner - added: "I had an extremely good feeling before we started pre-season, we already had Macca [Alexis Mac Allister] and Dom [Szoboszlai] already in and then we knew there was a chance for Ryan [Gravenberch].
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"Then we obviously realised other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool… yeah, you see what happens. And then we found Endo. He's an exceptional player, he is, absolutely.
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Injury has prevented Romeo Lavia from making his Chelsea debut (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Moises Caicedo cost Chelsea £115m but hasn't justified his price tag (Chris Brunskill/Fantasista/Getty Images)"He's 30 years old, experienced, captain of Japan and it's not possible, sure [he's] not the first pick because the transfer market is like that, we don't go for a 30-year-old player who plays in Germany and nearly got relegated. But thank god we looked about things twice and had a deeper look and got this boy and he wanted to come definitely and that helps."
The Liverpool manager went on to hail his squad, who've collected 37 points from their opening 16 Premier League games to sit them top of the table, all while Caicedo has struggled to justify his £115m price tag and Lavia is yet to make his debut due to injury.
Klopp explained: "Now we have a squad together, a new leadership group, if you want, with very experienced players, still young some of them and a group around who is full of desire, full of passion who will give everything to this club. So that is the start and now we have to try to make something special happen."
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