Former Liverpool great Steve Nicol rates the chances that Daniel Sturridge, Loris Karius and more Reds stay or depart Anfield come the start of the season.
Jurgen Klopp was impressed with Manchester City’s young side after Liverpool beat them 2-1 but is remaining tight lipped on whether his side can win the league.
ANN ARBOR — Jurgen Klopp has dismissed Jose Mourinho’s suggestion that he is under pressure to guide Liverpool to the Premier League title this season after heavy investment in the transfer market.
The German manager also quipped that one of his biggest goals in life is to make Mourinho smile, but that he rarely has success on that front.
Mourinho recently said that Klopp must earn his first honour as Liverpool manager in 2018-19 following the big-money signings of Naby Keita, Fabinho and goalkeeper Alisson this summer.
And Klopp laughed off Mourinho’s comments, stating that moves in the transfer market do not necessarily guarantee success.
“One of my biggest goals in life is to make Jose smile — it doesn’t happen very often,” he said.
“I don’t even think it is a mind game, I think it is normal. I would never talk about Manchester United if no one asked me about it.
“I have no problem with what Jose Mourinho is saying, it is a free world and he can say whatever he wants. If he is happy about our transfers even better.
“We know it doesn’t mean you win [trophies] automatically.”
Mourinho’s comments are the latest thinly-veiled dig towards his Liverpool counterpart, arriving ahead of the International Champions Cup meeting between the two English heavyweights at Michigan Stadium on Saturday.
It was put to Klopp at a news conference on Friday that Mourinho likes talking about him in public, to which the Reds boss replied with: “It’s not easy to reach that point, eh?
“What can I say about that? Jose can say what he wants to say, to be honest, and obviously I can do the same. But I’m not too much interested in Manchester United.
“I’m pretty sure they will do business as well in the next few days, but we know about our responsibility. We feel responsible only for our fans, for our owners, for the supporters all over the world, nobody else. That’s the situation.
“We are ambitious, we never said anything different. We have to deliver; what that means exactly, I don’t know in this moment. We will see that.
“But a big part of the job is to play football that our people like. That happened last year, probably the year before as well, and now we are in the situation where we want to make the next step.
“But the opponents don’t sleep. We know that. It means our life is not easier because we brought a few players in. We only feel a bit better prepared than last year. That’s all.”
Liverpool conclude their preseason tour of the U.S. on Saturday at the largest stadium in the country. before travelling to France for a four-day training camp.
“It’s a really nice story, that we come here,” Klopp continued. “It’s not often you get the opportunity to play in the second biggest stadium in the world. Especially when it’s America, I can imagine people like it. It’s an impressive building, it’s cool.
“It’s preseason, but it’s United against Liverpool, Liverpool against United. Big game.
“People in America obviously were waiting for that game, or at least 100,000 people were! So we’re really looking forward to it.”
Meanwhile, Naby Keita is a serious doubt for the game with the stiff neck that forced him to sit out Wednesday’s win over Manchester City in New Jersey.
Keita did not train at Michigan Stadium on Friday, along with Loris Karius and Georginio Wijnaldum, although Klopp reiterated that the Guinean’s injury is not a serious concern.
“Naby is probably out,” he said. “It’s only a stiff neck but eight hours on that plane with the air conditioning, not comfortable enough for him. He won’t train today.
“We have another session on Saturday morning so we will see what happens over night. It’s not serious.”
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