Jurgen Klopp has guided Liverpool to the Premier League title as manager.
After Manchester City failed to beat Chelsea on Thursday night, Liverpool finally ended their 30-year wait for a league crown and Klopp was able to party the night away with his players to celebrate.
We're inclined to think that even the most ardent of Liverpool haters has a soft spot for Klopp and it's hard to deny the brilliance with which he's executed a long-term project over five years.
Besides, Klopp made a bold prediction in his first press conference at the club which, if we take some slight creative license, essentially laid out what he's since implemented with the Reds.
Klopp famously remarked: “We can wait for it [league title] but I don’t want to say we can wait 20 years. If we sit here in four years I think we’ll have won one title – I’m pretty sure.”
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Liverpool's journey under Klopp
Four years means four full seasons, right? Anyhow, there is no clearer display of the work Klopp has achieved at Anfield than by comparing the current squad with the one that he inherited in 2015.
It's a comparison that's been made a million times before, but we've decided to take a unique twist on it by using the data at Transfermarkt to compile Liverpool's most valuable now XI and when Klopp first arrived.
We've even contrasted the respective transfer values of the 2015 and 2020 crop so you can see the positions where Liverpool have improved the most as well as a grand total of value change.
Most valuable XI: 2015 vs 2020
Oh, and we're also modelling the XI's by Klopp's current system. Disclaimers aside, though; check out the two compared teams down below to see the staggering change over four and a half years.
Goalkeeper
2015: Simon Mignolet - £10.9 million
2019: Alisson Becker - £64.8 million
Difference: +£53.9 million
Right-back
2015: Nathaniel Clyne - £19.1 million
2019: Trent Alexander-Arnold - £89.1 million
Difference: +£70 million
Centre-back
2015: Mamadou Sakho - £16.3 million
Dejan Lovren - £11.8 million
2019: Virgil van Dijk - £72.0 million
Joe Gomez - £30.2 million
Difference: +£74.1 million
Left-back
2015: Alberto Moreno - £13.6 million
2019: Andrew Robertson - £57.6 million
Difference: +£43 million
Defensive midfield
2015: Emre Can - £16.3 million
2019: Fabinho - £50.4 million
Difference: +£34.1 million
Central midfield
2015: Jordan Henderson - £25.5 million
Philippe Coutinho - £29.1 million
2019: Georginio Wijnaldum - £36.0 million
Naby Keita - £30.15 million
Difference: +£11.55 million
Right winger
2015: Jordon Ibe - £6.4 million
2019: Mohamed Salah - £108.0 million
Difference: +£101.6 million
Centre forward
2015: Roberto Firmino - £31.8 million
2019: Roberto Firmino - £64.8 million
Difference: +£33 million
Left winger
2015: Daniel Sturridge - £22.7 million*
2019: Sadio Mane - £108.0 million
Difference: +£85.3 million
Overall difference: +£506.55 million
*Liverpool had no out-and-out left winger in their 2015 squad, so we've had to relax our strictness by including Sturridge out wide instead.
Over half a billion! That's how much Liverpool's most valuable XI has increased in transfer worth since Klopp took over the keys from Brendan Rodgers less than five years ago.
It's crazy to think that Liverpool have upgraded from Mignolet to Alisson, Clyne to Alexander-Arnold, Moreno to Robertson, Can to Fabinho, Sturridge to Mane and even Ibe to Salah.
All that and Liverpool have one of the best net-spend rates in the entire Premier League, handling their transfer coffers far better than City, Chelsea and United.
In other words, Klopp has achieved what he set out to do and he did it how it should be done. Fair play, Jurgen.