Klopp stunned Liverpool managed to sign Firmino

Matt Stead

Jurgen Klopp has revealed his amazement that Liverpool managed to sign Roberto Firmino for they price they did.

The 25-year-old arrived from Hoffenheim for £29million in the summer of 2015 and at the time the forward was Liverpool’s second most expensive recruit in the club’s history, but Klopp believes the Reds got a bargain and cannot believe the fee involved for the Brazilian was not higher.

“The first thing I did when I left Dortmund, I took my phone and deleted all the numbers so I was not reachable. So I didn’t speak to anyone to offer advice, about Firmino or anyone else.

“Nobody asked me about him but he was a player I thought was one of the best in the Bundesliga. So when I saw that Liverpool had signed him I thought, ‘How could they do this?’ They were not in their 100% best moment and other clubs would have spent more on him, so I thought, immediately, ‘What a good transfer for them.’

“When I heard about it I thought they had made a good signing, because I felt pretty sure clubs would have paid a lot more for him.

“I can see in the Premier League you cannot have the perfect overview of the Bundesliga, and in the Bundesliga you cannot have the perfect overview of the Premier League. So you can know the Champions League and the players who are top-class but around there are so many good players you cannot know, only if you watch each game at the weekend.

“That is normal, and a lot of people thought, ‘Hoffenheim, where is this? That is a lot of money’. In Germany some people don’t know where it is but, if you play your football there, then you feel it is a tough place and so you know what a decent job the scout did, whoever brought him in for that price.”

Firmino has been one of Liverpool’s star performers this season and he has adapted to Klopp’s pressing game and covered more ground than any other forward in the Premier League this season.

He has scored six goals in 15 appearances and managed to hold down the striker’s role, pushing Daniel Sturridge to the substitutes bench.

“When I knew I was coming here I knew I had a good player – I was looking forward to working with him very much,” added Klopp.

“He is happy… so he doesn’t care about getting more credit or recognition. Of course he is very important because he can play these positions all three positions in our system, and in our system I’m sure he could play the eight too.

“He is different, but he can play there. He is a very important player, a connecting player, a finisher, a fighter, a defender, the first defender – that is important. A lot of things he is good at are very important for us.

“He’s still a good listener, and a good trainer. He likes to train he likes to learn, so that is excellent, a nice package.”