Liverpool can't afford 'Ferrari' signings

Reds manager Klopp admits club can’t blow budget on glamorous players

LIVERPOOL:

Jurgen Klopp admits Liverpool cannot blow their transfer budget on glamorous "Ferrari" signings, with the Reds apparently priced out of the race for Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham.

Liverpool had been strongly linked with a close-season move for the England midfielder but are now believed to have switched their attention elsewhere.

With Real Madrid, Manchester City, Manchester United and Chelsea also reportedly interested in the 19-year-old, competition for his signature is likely to be fierce, driving up his price.

Klopp's preference is to spend Liverpool's funds on several players to improve an ageing squad that has badly underperformed this season.

In a pointed message to fans, the German made it clear the club have to look at the bigger picture rather than chasing a marquee signing.

"It is not about Jude Bellingham, my answer now, but I never understood why we talk about things we theoretically cannot have," Klopp told reporters on Friday.

"We cannot have six players in a summer, everyone for £100 million ($125 million). Everyone would say that is clear."

He added: "You have to realise what you can do and then work with it. That is your job. We are not children.

"When you ask a five-year-old what they want for Christmas and they tell you, 'I don't know, a Ferrari', you wouldn't say 'that's a good idea' -- you would say 'that is too expensive and anyway you cannot drive it'.

"If this kid then was really unhappy because he didn't get a Ferrari, it would be a really sad life."

Klopp publicly praised Bellingham in December, describing him as "exceptional" after he impressed at the World Cup in Qatar.

The teenage midfielder, who previously played in England for second-tier side Birmingham, is close to international team-mates Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson, raising hopes among Liverpool supporters that one of Europe's hottest prospects could be coming to Anfield.

Henderson, speaking after England's win against Ukraine in March, said it would be "amazing" if a player with Bellingham's "frightening" talent were signed by Liverpool.

Yet Liverpool have taken the pragmatic decision to focus on a group of signings, with Chelsea midfielders Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher reportedly now among their top targets.

"You look what you can do, and you work with that. That is always how I worked," Klopp said.

Haaland targets more records

Is any record safe with Manchester City hotshot Erling Haaland around?

The 22-year-old Norwegian could overhaul Mohamed Salah's record of 32 goals in a 38-game Premier League season this weekend, with relegation-threatened Leicester the fearful visitors.

The overall single-season record of 34 goals in the Premier League era -- set in the days of 42 games per side by Andrew Cole and Alan Shearer -- will surely be next to fall.

Haaland's goal in Manchester City's 3-0 demolition of Bayern Munich this week -- his 11th in the Champions League this season -- was his 45th for the club in all competitions in an incredible debut campaign for Pep Guardiola's team.

That broke the all competitions goal record by a Premier League player since the rebranded top-flight was founded in 1992, with the previous highest total set 20 years ago by Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy and matched in 2017/18 by Liverpool's Salah.

Van Nistelrooy and Salah both took 52 games to score those 44 goals. Haaland has played just 39 games so far.

"He is the most efficient striker I have ever seen. His goalscoring is out of this world," said former England midfielder Owen Hargreaves, who played for Bayern and City.

Even Everton striker Dixie Dean's all-time English record of 63 goals set in the 1927/28 season looks within reach -- though his mark of 60 in the top-flight in that campaign will surely remain intact, with Haaland currently on 30.