Liverpool will look to focus on buying potential in the market this summer rather than shopping for the finished product, according to The Athletic.

Is this a surprise?

With football finances at a relative low as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, trying to sign players who don’t come with a huge price tag and can offer a long-term investment does make sense.

Still, given how the season has gone for Liverpool, it may not exactly be the most inspiring news for sections of the support. While the signing of Thiago Alcantara in September 2020 was a big name addition, the club haven’t truly reinvested at any great scale since 2018, when Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker arrived.

Can Jurgen Klopp make it work?

Despite the struggles of this season, you’d have to say yes.

Although there have been big signings, Klopp has largely improved what he inherited as a whole. Indeed, the likes of Jordan Henderson, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Joe Gomez have all vastly improved under his watch, while Mo Salah has developed into one of the game’s elite marksmen after working with the German.

Having rebuilt his Borussia Dortmund teams after losing their best players to some of Europe’s bigger clubs, Klopp has a proven track record of improving younger players.

Who has been linked?

RB Leipzig’s 21-year-old Ibrahima Konate has been strongly linked with a move to Anfield and Liverpool are also said to be monitoring Jude Bellingham’s situation at Dortmund.

EuroSport recently claimed that Klopp hoped FSG would back him by affording him the funds to buy a new central defender and, even in light of this news on their likely transfer strategy, that is certainly still possible.

Konate is highly regarded amongst analytics circles while there is an option to sign Ozan Kabak on a permanent basis after his recent improvement, so perhaps Klopp will get what he wants.