Revealed: Klopp & FSG at odds over Liverpool pulling plug on Werner deal
Liverpool owners FSG and Jurgen Klopp have offered different reasons for the club pulling the plug on signing Chelsea-bound Timo Werner, Football Insider can reveal.
Klopp called the German goal machine to tell him the deal would not happen for purely financial reasons and it was not a reflection of his abilities.
By contrast, Liverpool have let it be known that the US-based owners’ stance is that a variety of factors combined to them pulling out of the race.
One of those was that Werner would not initially have been a regular starter in Klopp’s side and that the plan was for him to gradually get more game time in 2021.
It was felt, a Liverpool source has told Football Insider, that £53m was regarded as a huge outlay for a squad market in the current market.
The Merseysiders have only once paid a similar sum for a player who was not first choice – Naby Keita two years ago – but the midfielder was expected to make a far bigger impact than he has.
Transfer fees are expected to tumble this summer as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic that has tightened finances even among the elite clubs.
Liverpool posted a £42m profit last season – the second highest among Premier League clubs, behind only Tottenham – but they will not get close to that in 2019-20.
FSG insist upon the club operating within its means and on a self-sustainable footing.
This site became the first English-language site to report – at 5.20pm yesterday – that Chelsea have agreed to pay Werner’s £53m release clause.
Werner, who has banged in a remarkable 31 goals from 40 Leipzig matches this season, is now set to complete a move to Stamford Bridge next week.
In other Liverpool news, two senior stars are set to leave after offer submitted for attacking sensation.