Creating Jurgen Klopp’s 2016 Summer Blueprint for Liverpool

When Jurgen Klopp addressed reporters on his unveiling as Liverpool manager back in October, the German outlined his objective for the coming seasons on Merseyside, telling reporters including the Independent’s Tom Sheen that “if I sit here in four years, I am pretty confident we will have one title.”

This served as a crowd-pleasing statement of intent, and while Klopp’s motivation to make such a claim remains unclear—whether it was partly in jest or he simply alluded to a trophy, rather than the Premier League title—expectations rose accordingly.

In his first season with the club, taking over from Brendan Rodgers after a disappointing start from the Ulsterman, Klopp saw the Reds finish eighth in the league, and while they reached the finals of the UEFA Europa League and the Capital One Cup, defeat in both ensured 2015/16 was considered a failure to launch.

While it is only one season down, three to go in Klopp’s vision of success at Liverpool, this mix of progress and setback last season makes the next campaign, 2016/17, a hugely important one in the Anfield landscape.

Klopp took over in October without the virtues of a summer of preparation and recruitment, and therefore, the 48-year-old should be better placed to lead his side to glory in the coming season—but how can Klopp prepare for a successful 2016/17?

The former Borussia Dortmund manager’s preparation for the next season reached a tangible beginning as early as the first week of January, with Liverpool confirming the signing of Serbian midfielder Marko Grujic from Red Star Belgrade.

Grujic returned to Red Star for the rest of the campaign, enjoying title success in the Serbian SuperLiga and rounding off the season with a first appearance for the Serbia national team—in a 2-1 win at home to Christakis Christoforou’s Cyprus, a clash that saw him take the place of Chelsea’s Nemanja Matic at half-time.

Speaking on the signing of Grujic in January, Klopp told the club’s official website that he believes the 20-year-old can make an impact in 2016/17:

We will see, but of course, that’s what we think and you always need to have a little bit of fantasy because the leagues are different but he’s tall enough and young enough to get stronger and all these things.

The skills he has now have made him the player we wanted and now we can start working together. We think he will be good for the Premier League.

Klopp’s faith in Grujic suggests he is set to build a new-look, youthful side for his first full season on Merseyside, and this was duly followed by the acquisitions of centre-back Joel Matip (24) on a free transfer from Schalke and Loris Karius (22) in a £4.7 million deal with Mainz.

Both are likely to come in to perform a key role under Klopp, with Karius taking the No. 1 shirt with a view to challenging Simon Mignolet for the role of first-choice goalkeeper. In a video package released by the club on his arrival, the former Germany under-21s international’s top-level credentials were highlighted:

Everything you need to know about new signing, Loris Karius… #KariusLFC …

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