Liverpool Club Favourite Claims Jurgen Klopp Cannot Be Trusted With Signing New Defenders

Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has hit out the club's manager Jurgen Klopp, saying that he would not trust the German to conduct the Merseyside club's business in the transfer window.

Nicol, who won five league titles and a European Cup during fourteen years at Anfield, believes that Klopp should relinquish control of the club's transfer activity in the January window.

Klopp's side have come in for plenty of criticism defensively this season, none more so than after Sunday's 4-1 thrashing at Tottenham, and Nicol believes that puts Liverpool at a disadvantage in the transfer window.

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He told ESPN, as quoted by the Daily Star: “The problem I have is Liverpool having to go and buy a back four, they’re going to have to pay over the odds because it’s January."

A long running summer transfer saga surrounding Southampton centre back Virgil van Dijk ended with the Anfield club being forced to issue an apology for their conduct and ending their interest for the time being. 

That left Liverpool were left with just one defensive recruitment from the summer window, full back Andrew Robertson from Hull. 

Nicol has been left unimpressed with Klopp's defensive acquisitions over a longer period.

"No [I don’t trust Klopp with £150m]. How could anybody rationally turn round and say 'I trust Klopp to go and buy a defender?" he continued.

“Since he’s come to the club, what two-and-a-half years? They’re not any better than they were when he started. The Liverpool board are going to have to look at this and decide whether they bring somebody in, to have somebody who can spot a defender. He clearly can’t.”

Following that defeat to Tottenham on Sunday, Liverpool sit ninth in the Premier League, 12 points adrift of league leaders Manchester City, ahead of the visit of Huddersfield Town to Anfield on Saturday.