Jurgen Klopp pokes fun at Chelsea pair with 'lucky' dig

The Reds boss made a cheeky joke about the club’s failed attempts to sign two players who went to Chelsea last summer.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has implied the club was fortunate to end up signing Wataru Endo instead of Chelsea pair Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia.

Last summer, Caicedo and Lavia both turned down offers to join Liverpool. Instead, the midfield duo opted for Chelsea, who paid over £150 million to sign them. This led Liverpool to fork out £16.2 million to sign Japan captain Endo from Stuttgart.

Yet, almost halfway into the current campaign, neither Caicedo nor Lavia have shined in London. Caicedo has struggled to replicate the same impressive performances he produced at Brighton. On the other hand, Lavia has yet to make his debut due to several injury setbacks.

“We had a few strange things happen in the [summer] transfer market,” Klopp said at the Anfield Road Stand test event on Monday, as per the Evening Standard.

“But here, between us, I can say ‘My god, were we lucky, eh?'”

“We didn’t know that at that moment and it didn’t feel like it at that moment, but yeah, I’m really happy that it worked out, but you never know before.”

Endo has made 18 appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, scoring twice and managing one assist.

“We obviously realized that other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool, you see what happens, and then we found Endo,” Klopp added.

“He’s an exceptional player … He wanted to come definitely and that helps.”

Endo has started all five of Liverpool’s Group E games in the Europa League this season. The 30-year-old will hope to make the line-up again on Thursday when the Reds face Union-Saint Gilloise.