Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp knows he is under pressure to deliver silverware after the club’s lavish spending in the transfer market.
Klopp’s Liverpool reached the Champions League final and finished fourth in the Premier League last season, and the Reds have invested heavily ahead of the 2018-19 campaign.
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Alisson became the most expensive goalkeeper in history after joining from Roma, while Liverpool also spent significant sums to lure Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri to Anfield.
Liverpool’s last title came via the 2011-12 EFL Cup, with league honours proving elusive since 1990.
Asked if Liverpool – in the United States for the International Champions Cup – need to win a trophy this season, Klopp said: ‘You are right and people will say that. It is the next step.
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‘We need to be ready for that. I cannot give guarantees here but I understand if people think that. I know about the expectations.
‘I am confident we can build on last season. It’s not that we lost things completely but you have to work on it to get it back.
‘I am in for the start of a third season and in each season there was one period when people questioned me or our progress. In the end, it was OK. I am prepared for these moments.’
He also spoke about the threat offered by the other Premier League teams who have bolstered their squads.
Klopp added: ‘Other teams, of course, will do transfer business as well. They will not be weaker than last year. [Champions Manchester] City brought in [Riyad] Mahrez. I did not hear that they lost one player so far. So it means the quality of last year plus Mahrez. That’s a nice plan as well.
‘[Manchester] United will go for it too and that’s completely normal. We expect more from ourselves. We will go again for the championship and each kind of cup but that does not mean I can sit here and say we will get it. We have the highest ambitions.’
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