Ex-Liverpool man urges Klopp to ‘freshen’ up the squad following Champions League final defeat
Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has urged Jurgen Klopp to freshen up his squad following their Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid.
The Reds headed to Paris as the favourites but were edged out by Vinicius Jr’s second half strike and some outstanding goalkeeping from man-of-the-match Thibaut Courtois.
16 Conclusions on the Champions League final: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 1
Having narrowly missed out on the Premier League title last weekend, their defeat in Paris leaves a sour note on what had been a successful season.
Talks have already begun surrounding the futures of numerous Liverpool stars with forward Sadio Mane taking most of the headlines after refusing to commit his future.
And Hamann, who won the Champions League with Liverpool in 2005, has urged Klopp to consider freshening up his squad.
Speaking on RTE, the German said: “I think sometimes you’ve got to freshen things up because this group of players have been together for a long time and they’ve done exceptional things.
“But what I’m saying is, you go away from the camp tomorrow, you’ve played the season of your lives and you end up with two domestic cups and the two biggest prizes you haven’t won.
“Now psychologically you come back next season and the lads might be thinking, ‘What do we have to do to win the Premier League or the Champions League because we couldn’t have done any more than we did this season?’
“And you may lose one of your best players or two of the best players (Sadio Mane and Mo Salah) so I think psychologically for the manager, it’s a huge, huge job.
“I really think it could have a bearing, it could have a negative impact on what’s to come. Because there are international games now and they’ve got three weeks holidays and then they’re back.
“They know they have a very strong opponent in Manchester City, they won’t go away and the English teams, some of them will be better equipped, Bayern Munich might be better equipped next season.
“So it won’t be any easier to win the Champions League next season because their run to the final, if you compare it with Madrid’s, was rather easy.
“So I think could have a bigger impact than just losing a game tonight.”
