Liverpool Fans Will Be Sorely Disappointed if They Expect a Mass Dortmund Reunion at Anfield

Klopp outlined a target of winning the Premier League by 2019, suggesting he's been assured of having time to build a side with which to achieve it. In the unlikely event he does manage to pull it off, it will be far from how typically deluded fans are envisioning it.

As soon as Jurgen Klopp was named Liverpool manager, the media frenzy started. Here was the man to save the club, eradicate the memory of Brendan Rodgers' shortcomings and take the Reds back to the summit of English and European football.

For the rest of us that means annoyingly delusional calls of grandeur and excitement over star players who owe Klopp their careers and will 'obviously' follow him to Anfield.

Liverpool were seriously linked with Marco Reus, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski, now of course of Bayern Munich, by the British press in the first few days of Klopp's reign. The possibility of Shinji Kagawa following his manager and mentor to Merseyside has also made its way into various gossip columns.

It probably won't be long before rumours surrounding the rest of Klopp's former Dortmund charges - Lukasz Piczszek, Roman Weidenfeller, Neven Subotic, all pillars of the success that came to Signal Iduna Park - begin to follow.

But Liverpool fans thinking their team will be full of world class Bundesliga stars before long are setting themselves up for plenty of disappointment.

If Mats Hummels turned down interest from Manchester United and Barcelona to stay at Dortmund, would he trade all that in just to follow Klopp to Anfield? Would Lewandowski, arguably the best striker in the world right now, leave Bayern Munich and the chance of Champions League glory to play for Liverpool? Should Marco Reus leave Dortmund, would he turn down the opportunity to test himself at a truly elite club to 'chance it' with Klopp in England?

The answer to all three is probably not.

Kagawa, despite his Manchester United past, is a much more plausible target, but would he actually be an improvement when he offers a similar set of skills to several existing players? Again, probably not. It's also worth pointing out that in his first spell in English football he found himself severely unable to cope with the fitness demands.

Even if Liverpool in their current state did have a genuine chance of landing such players, it's not a route that Klopp should or is even likely to explore.

He's actually already declared his intention to stay realistic in terms of recruitment and plans to steer clear of star names. In his first interview for LFC TV, he said, "I'm not a dream man, I don't want to have Cristiano or Lionel and all these players in one team."

More recently, he's been even more explicit about it, explaining, "I have no intention whatsoever to lure Dortmund's stars to Liverpool. I am not interested in how much money I will be allowed to spend in January." On another occasion since taking over he said, "Ok, there is much money. You don't have to spend all the money. You can hold it and make something else."

If his time at Dortmund can teach us anything about Klopp, it's that it's not in his nature to buy a ready-made team. He has until January to assess the capabilities of the existing squad and weigh up what his needs will be. Certain players may be heading for the exit, others who were important under Brendan Rodgers may find themselves relegated to support roles and some may suddenly get a new lease of life.

If he does opt to utilise the transfer market in the new year, the skill of Klopp and his coaches is in plucking talented players from relative obscurity and taking them to unexpected heights. That was something Rodgers' Liverpool attempted to do, but failed.

At Dortmund, Klopp did it masterfully. Following a successful loan spell, €4m was spent on Hummels, a cast off from Bayern. Kagawa arrived from the Japanese second division for just €350,000.

Lewandowksi, previously a target for Blackburn Rovers joined for only €4.5m in 2010. When there was finally a little more money available, Klopp's Dortmund spent €17m on Reus. It still wasn't a dramatic fee, though, and the Borussia Monchengladbach winger was hardly a huge star - he would go on to become that at Dortmund.

Instead of going back for those particular names, Liverpool fans should expect Klopp to look ahead and build a new team, using his tried and tested template for success. One such obscure name who has been linked with a January move to the Reds is 21-year-old Italian forward Domenico Berardi. The Sassuolo youngster would appear to fit the bill perfectly and it these types of player that Kopites should prepare to welcome.

Klopp outlined a target of winning the Premier League by 2019, suggesting he's been assured of having time to build a side with which to achieve it. In the unlikely event he does manage to pull it off, it will be far from how typically deluded fans are envisioning it.

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