Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp appears to have finally admitted that he is gunning for the Premier League title this season after describing second place in football as ‘nothing’.
Liverpool have spent vast sums of money in recent transfer windows, bringing in the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Naby Keita, Fabinho and Alisson, yet Klopp has raised eyebrows on more than one occasion this season by playing down the club’s title hopes.
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Speaking back in July, the manager claimed that the club’s major transfer business ‘doesn’t change the situation’ in terms of the pressure and expectation to finish top of the pile.
A month later, Klopp then also said that he ‘couldn’t care less’ about the title at such an early stage of the campaign after Liverpool beat Crystal Palace.
Now, however, it looks as though the 51-year-old has embraced the challenge.
“In most sports, coming second in the Olympics you come home with a silver medal. In football, it’s nothing. And it’s nothing for me as well. I want to win it, and I know that’s a responsibility,” Klopp is quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror.
“I put all I have, knowledge, passion, heart, experience, I throw everything into the club 100 per cent. I don’t keep anything back,” he added.
“It should work, actually, at one point. But until then, we should have a really good time.”
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Liverpool last won a league title in 1990, while the club has gone without winning a trophy of any kind since 2012. Klopp himself won back-to-back Bundesliga titles with Borussia Dortmund in 2010/11 and 2011/12, although he hasn’t won another trophy since a 2014 DFL Super Cup.