Jurgen Klopp, manager of Liverpool, insists he will not be swayed by the actions of other teams and that he will continue to be immune to their activities.
By the beginning of July, the Reds manager had essentially finished all of his summer transfer business, adding Calvin Ramsay, Fabio Carvalho, and Darwin Nunez for potential club-record money.
Chelsea, Manchester United, and to a lesser extent Manchester City are among the teams still working to close deals before the transfer window closes.
But Klopp asserted that his actions would not be influenced by what their competitors did between now and the end of the month.
“It brings me absolutely no joy that they continue to try; other teams have already completed their tasks. We have nothing to do with it, he declared.
“We cannot increase the rhythm or find money because other teams sign players and say ‘oh, now we have to do as well because they signed him, we now need him’.
“You have to be completely independent of whatever, whoever, is doing what – and we are.
“We tried to sort our situation, which is difficult enough, but it is our situation at least and the only situation in which we are influential and the only one I am concerned about.”
Klopp can at least take satisfaction in how Nunez has adapted so quickly to life in English football, with a goal and an assist in each of his first two appearances off the bench.
The competition between the Uruguay international and the summer’s other big-name striker arrival Erling Haaland is already being touted as the battle to watch this season but the Reds boss has played it down.
He doesn’t want Nunez to think he must match the international from Norway blow for blow.
Before Monday’s match against Crystal Palace, when asked if Nunez was inspired to score more by Haaland’s two-goal start to the season with Manchester City, he responded, “I think in the moment, not at all.”
“There might be a situation at the end of the season where it comes down to goal scoring.
But right now, all he cares about is whether he can score or help us score goals. He hasn’t given it a serious look, in my opinion.
It was always obvious that Haaland would succeed at City because the team creates chances and he is a finisher. Because of this, it is not unexpected.
But we work to ensure that our football strategy is always clear and consistent because, if we are successful in doing so, playing against us will still be extremely uncomfortable.
Then we can consider how we can get better, but for now, we just need to bring the intensity, and everything will be fine.
