It just strikes me as completely ridiculous people can claim he is in total control yet he isn't able to shift the overall strategy.
New television deal, increased stadium capacity and Jürgen Klopp at the helm and he has freely chosen Leicester's second choice leftback, Zielinski and Mane?
It's so ridiculous surely no one believes that.
So of course the budget plays a huge part in the transfer process.
If you worked for any normal company where you are in charge of purchasing then you often don't set the overall budgets or have free choice of suppliers but you have power over the stuff within your remit.
But you wouldn't claim you had total control over purchasing. The criteria within which Klopp is working is not going to change from Rodgers and as a result he has to deal with many of the same issues, compromising on the quality of players bought.
I'm not for one second expecting him to be able to sign anyone, we aren't PSG and frankly I don't want to be.
But I honestly started to believe that FSG would give a man of Klopp's ability the backing the befits his status. But then it's become painfully obvious it will be same old same old.
Ok mate let's play a game, the lfcreds Football Manager + Fantasy Football.
Jürgen has identified which positions he needs to fill in the team/squad. They are
Keeper
Left back
Centre back
Central midfielder
Wide attacker
Qualities he needs from these new players.
Keeper needs to be excellent in 1 on 1 situations, a good shot stopper and comfortable sweeping behind the CB's. Starter.
LB, he quite likes what he has in Moreno from an attacking pov and feels he can work on his positional sense and defending but would like another young player to compete with him to push him in his development. Competition.
CB needs to be an aggressive, front foot type defender with good aerial ability. Starter.
CM needs to be a good tackler, have good close control and passing, can transition quickly between defense and attack, good when pressed or under pressure with the ball, be able to bring the ball forward quickly, be a creator and contribute with goals. Preferably a starter.
Wide attacker needs pace, creativity and goals, understands his pressing game and play on either side. Starter.
His budget. We normally have around £30m to spend and with the new tv deal that's around another £30m. He will also get the money from any sales but he can't assume how much as he won't know who will buy who or for how much, so his budget is £60m.
Again due to not knowing who will leave other than those out of contract and knowing that the wage budget increase is restricted by PL ffp rules his wage increase can be no more than £300k per week.
So that's 5 positions he's identified, for this summer, that if he can find the right players with these qualities it should give him the tools he needs to make a difference to our coming season.
So far he's spent around £10m on his starting keeper, his starting CB and potentially his starting CM. His 1st choice for the LB position, Chilwell, is going to cost another £10m, his other main target for the CM, Zielinski, is another £10m and his wide attacker, Mane, is at least £30m.
That's his £60m budget spent.
Looking at Zielinskis profile he can also play wide right and Gotze another target, that we've already agreed a fee of £20m plus £175k pw wages for, can also be his wide attacker. I believe that deal, which has been agreed and accepted by the player and his Club, is still on the table so he may well still come if another Club higher up the pecking order doesn't come in for him.
You also need to take account of the high energy, stamina, work rate, the demands of the PL that the players need to adjust to and the fact that we haven't won a title in 25 plus years and we don't have any European football to offer them.
So with all that in mind, the positions he wants upgrading, the budget set, the wage bill increase agreed, use all your player knowledge, footy manager experience and any of the stats based sites to find these "better" fits that you believe must be out there.
Don't worry mate, this is all hypothetical, I'm not really expecting you to waste precious time and energy in actually doing all that research. You're not a scout or a stats analyst, nor have any footy agents on speed dial to see who's available and willing to come to a Club still living on it's past.
Having said all that we could very easily end up spending a lot more than the £60m as Skrtel, Allen and Benteke could all leave and bring in another £40m. Or maybe as some suspect we could lose Cou for another £40m/£50m or maybe even Hendo and Lallana for another £40m but I don't believe that Jürgen wants to rip up the whole 1st team and start again like some believe we should.
Alternatively we could go out and spend the £60m on a load of squaddies with the odd "big fee" signing that doesn't really fit how Jürgen plays and isn't what we need, in the hope that one or two might, eventually, in 2 or 3 years be good enough, like we have been doing.
It's fun to vent that you're not happy with the managers signings and targets, or the Clubs policy.
That you think he should be doing better with the money he has available.
To believe that he, nor the players he wants, will get us to where you think we should be.
That despite, it seems, he's actually identified where he needs to improve the starting 11 and squad, to give himself better options or options he doesn't currently have for the coming seasons, that he should be doing more.
That he believes he can and will improve what he already has, to make the sum of his parts a better whole.
That we won't finish any higher than this last season or the average of the 6th place we've finished over the last 6 seasons.
All of the above is perfectly reasonable and acceptable, we all want to be back up in the top slots year in, year out and winning a trophy or two every season, that we've waited too long for the holy grail but even with Jürgen, it was never going to happen immediately.
Even the oil clubs with their untold riches took several years to get to where they are. We've done the hard work, the hard miles of building our revenues, building the squad we have, extending the stadium, getting our Manager but we are still miles behind them both financially and status wise but if our patience will allow it he will get us there.
Who knows it could be this coming season, it may take another 2 or 3 but I'm absolutely certain that Jürgen knows what he's doing, is happy with his signings and targets and how our recruitment works or he wouldn't have come in the first place.
