Jurgen Klopp, the manager of Liverpool, has inaugurated a new era at Anfield. GIVEMESPORT examines the current status of his first ten signings.
Since taking over the club in October 2015, Jurgen Klopp, one of the finest managers in Liverpool history, has had a wonderful career at Anfield. On the red half of Merseyside, the German has led a transformation that has transformed the team from pretenders to contenders while also winning the Champions League and Premier League.
Though it didn’t begin as easily as it does now, Klopp took several transfer windows to truly establish his dominance and leave his mark on his squad. We’re now examining the first ten players the current Reds manager brought in and where they stand right now.
Marko Grujic, a highly-rated prospect from Red Star Belgrade, became Liverpool’s first signing under Jurgen Klopp in the hopes of becoming the focal point of a revamped midfield. Instead, he played at Anfield for less than 400 total minutes across all leagues, and he spent the majority of his time on loan at teams like Cardiff, Hertha Berlin, and Porto.
Then, the Portuguese team would sign him to a permanent contract, securing a deal worth £10.5 million for the midfielder—just over twice what Liverpool had first paid to acquire him. The Serbian player, currently 27 years old, continues to compete for Porto and has won 23 senior international matches. Given that a 10% sell-on clause was also negotiated by Klopp’s staff into the sale of the player, the Reds might still stand to make a sizable profit if a team decides to entice him away from Portugal. Even if Klopp’s first signing didn’t perform well on the field, it did wind up being profitable.
Steven Caulker’s entrance at Anfield was perhaps one of the oddest and possibly most worthless signings in recent memory, and Liverpool supporters undoubtedly still wonder why he was brought in. In the 2015–16 season, Caulker’s loan from QPR to Southampton was canceled specifically so he could join the Reds until the end of the season. Caulker made his debut in an exciting 3–3 draw against Arsenal. However, the former England international was substituted as a supplemental striker rather than as a conventional center-back.
In reality, Caulker would be used as an emergency striker in the following two games, against Manchester United and Norwich, respectively. In the latter game, he didn’t score, but he did contribute to Adam Lallana’s 95th-minute victory. Caulker would only make a total of four games while wearing a Liverpool jersey before moving on to enjoy a journeyman career, playing for various clubs in Scotland and Turkey. The now 31-year-old, who has 13 international caps for Sierra Leone, is presently a free agent after leaving his most recent club, Wigan.
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