Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson says manager Jurgen Klopp’s judgement in the transfer market should not be questioned despite a lack of heavyweight signings in the transfer window.
The Reds have added just teenagers Sepp Van Den Berg and Harvey Elliott to a squad that won the Champions League and finished second to Manchester City with the third-highest points total in Premier League history.
There has been criticism of Klopp for not making a significant signing to help his side’s quest for a first domestic title since 1990, but Henderson said that was unwarranted.
“If the manager hasn’t signed anyone then he knows better than everyone else,” said the midfielder.
“I think we’ve got a fantastic squad of players, we’ve shown that. We can use everybody, we’ve got big players (Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain) coming back from long-term injuries, which is like new signings as the manager says.
“We believe we’ve got a strong group in the changing room, a strong team, and we’ve just got to keep learning, keep improving on the training pitch, keep doing what we’ve been doing for a long time now, and keep staying hungry for more success.”
Liverpool lost to City on penalties in the Community Shield on Sunday but their second-half display suggests they can challenge the reigning champions this season, which gets under way on Friday when the Reds host Norwich.
Liverpool finished with 97 points last season, losing just one match, and they will have to maintain similar standards to have a chance of usurping Pep Guardiola’s City.
However, Henderson stressed the quality of the performances could be improved despite the club’s impressive points tally.
“We can’t always think back to what we did last season. We’re looking forward, we want to improve as a team,” he said.
“There were a lot of games last year where we didn’t play particularly well and play as well as we like and we did grind results out at times.
“Performance-wise we can be much better and that’s what we’ve got to focus on. Performance has got to be improving all the time.”
Mignolet leaves Liverpool
Simon Mignolet has left Liverpool to return to his home country and sign for Belgian side Club Brugge, both clubs announced on Monday.
“It’s official, Simon is a Bruges boy!” the Belgian top flight club said on its website, alongside a video of Mignolet arriving at his new home.
On Sunday Brugge had revealed that the 31-year-old, who had been sidelined by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp following the arrival of Alisson last summer, had agreed a five-year deal “subject to a medical” that took place earlier Monday.
The club did not reveal Mignolet’s salary, but the English media reported that they had paid Liverpool an initial £6.4 million (seven million euros) for his services.
Liverpool won the Champions League last season but the Belgium international hardly figured as the English team conquered Europe for the sixth time and finished just a point behind Premier League champions Manchester City.
All told, Mignolet played over 200 times for Liverpool after arriving from Sunderland in 2013, and has 22 appearances for his national team.
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