One of Jurgen Klopp’s great traits at Liverpool has been how he has worked the transfer market.
Unlike his rivals over in Manchester, he hasn’t had hundreds of millions to spend again and again, so he has had to be careful about what he spends and how he keeps faith in certain struggling stars.
During the early years of Jurgen Klopp’s reign at Liverpool, he opted to sell an out-of-sorts Spanish player in the name of Luis Alberto.
The midfielder was brought in by Brendan Rodgers in 2013, but he couldn’t make the cut, before being allowed to leave for Lazio in 2016.
Jamie Carragher had retired the season Luis Alberto joined the Reds and he spoke about how it ‘didn’t work out’ for the now-31-year-old on Merseyside, as he told CBS Sports on Paramount+ (05/03/24 at 7:45 pm).
But he now admires that the Spanish star is a player of ‘real quality’ and ‘influence’ after helping his team to the Champions League knockout stages.
Despite going to Munich with a 1-0 lead from the 1st leg, Maurizio Sarri’s side were outdone by a Harry Kane brace and they bowed out.
Luis Alberto at Liverpool
“It didn’t quite work out for him at Liverpool,” said Carragher. “He didn’t have a great time, he came in on the back of me moving on (retiring). Big wage packet there, to let these young players come in,” he joked
“But listen, he played nine games for Liverpool it didn’t really happen for him. It doesn’t mean he isn’t a good player and hasn’t got quality. We see that now.
“Certainly in Serie A and for Lazio, we see what this guy is about. Really influential, an attacking midfield player, sometimes he can play wide and between the lines, and then he is feeding people.
“We never seen this in a Reds shirt, unfortunately, for him and for Liverpool. But there is no doubt that he has got real quality.”
The right call from Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp
This was a call that suited all parties, at the time, because Alberto had been on the books for a while, added with loan spells, so it was clear that it wasn’t working out.
Perhaps if he met Klopp further into his reign at Anfield, then maybe, he would have been a success.
Players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Divock Origi, Adam Lallana and Xherdan Shaqiri, to name a few, probably weren’t good enough to be regular starters.
But Klopp made sure he got every inch of quality out of them and they played a key role in the club’s trophy success.
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