Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp “doesn’t care” about allegations of hypocrisy over his transfer spending.
After Paul Pogba’s £89m move to Manchester United in 2016, Klopp said he would quit football if such fees became commonplace.
The £66.8m signing of goalkeeper Alisson from Roma took Liverpool’s spending over the last 12 months to almost £250m.
“We don’t care what the world around us is thinking,” Klopp said.
“Like Manchester United didn’t care what I said.”
The German added: “It is only an opinion in that moment. Did I change my opinion? Yes. That is true. But it is better to change your opinion than never have one.
“We have the players we want.”
Liverpool spent a club-record £75m to sign central defender Virgil van Dijk from Southampton in January.
Before that, they agreed for midfielder Naby Keita to move from RB Leipzig for a fee in excess of £50m even though the Bundesliga side failed to qualify for the Champions League, which reduces the price.
This summer, Klopp has signed Brazilian midfielder Fabinho from Monaco – in a deal that could be worth more than £40m – and Stoke playmaker Xherdan Shaqiri for £13m before breaking the world record for a goalkeeper last week to sign Alisson, Brazil’s first choice at the World Cup ahead of Manchester City’s Ederson.
Klopp said: “Whatever people say and bring it up again and again, I have had worse days in my life and worse things happen to me. We have the players we wanted. I am fine with that.”
Although his own transfer business is done, Klopp thinks there will be more big deals before the transfer window closes, on 9 August in England, and 31 August across the rest of Europe.
He accepts when he made his comments in the wake of that Pogba deal, he could not have imagined how the transfer market would evolve with Neymar’s world record £200m move to Paris St-Germain from Barcelona and Philippe Coutinho’s £142m switch to Barca from Liverpool six months ago now seen as the benchmark.
Speaking in the United States before Liverpool’s Champions Cup game against Borussia Dortmund in Charlotte on Sunday (21:05 BST), Klopp said: “The world has changed completely.
“Better players than we already have are not waiting around the corner. You can’t get the world-class goalkeeper who had a really long contract at Roma on a free transfer.
“It is not for me to say we don’t want to pay big money because in the end Liverpool is not successful. That doesn’t work.”
