'There's nothing to say' - Klopp plays down rumours linking Sancho to Liverpool

Posted Wednesday, December 04, 2019 by Goal.com

A report this week suggested the Reds were the favourites to snap up the England international in January

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has played down speculation linking his club with Borussia Dortmund star Jadon Sancho, while admitting the Reds could be set to spend in January.

A report from Jan Aage Fjortoft earlier this week suggested that Sancho wants to leave Dortmund in January and named Liverpool as the favourites for the teenage star's signature.

Following a breakout season in 2018-19, Sancho has been productive this term as well but has also clashed with manager Lucien Favre, and was benched for last week's Champions League clash with Barcelona for disciplinary reasons.

Klopp has a good working relationship with Dortmund, where he managed from 2008 to 2015, but has said he is unaware of any looming move for the England star.

"He's a very good player," Klopp said of Sancho ahead of Wednesday's Merseyside derby against Everton. "I have no clue where these kind of things [the rumours] are coming from, but it cannot come from us because we never speak about it.

"If we would be involved, nobody would know about it apart from a person who wouldn't speak about it. There's nothing to say. I know how it sounds, but I cannot change that. There's nothing to say about it, which can mean there's absolutely nothing to say about it."

Should Liverpool decide to join the bidding for Sancho, they may be forced to shell out a nine-figure transfer fee for a player who has emerged as one of the best young attacking talents in world football.

Any such outlay would smash the club's transfer record and the Reds boss confessed that Dortmund's asking price for Sancho could make any move cost-prohibitive.

"That's one issue, 100 per cent an issue," Klopp said of Sancho's potential fee.

Klopp did, however, signal that he is open to making a signing in January, with Liverpool currently eight points ahead of second-place Leicester City and looking to seal their first English title in 30 years.

"We don't speak about it, but we are pretty much always ready to do something if it will help us," he said.

"If not, then not. We will see. I think the summer window is more difficult because of the different moments when it closes in Europe.

"That makes it really difficult. We will see how that will be in the future. The summer window only hurts the English clubs."