Jurgen Klopp defends Liverpool's refusal to pay £38m for Alex Teixeira

Manager says club would not meet Shakhtar Donetsk's asking price for Brazilian because 'you have to be responsible'

Shakhtar Donetsk forward Alex Teixeira (Getty Images)

Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool’s refusal to meet Shakhtar Donetsk’s £38m asking price for Alex Teixeira was the correct decision, and says the club’s lack of deadline-day activity offers them the chance to see more of their young players in the coming months.

Liverpool admitted defeat in their chase for Teixeira – an uncapped Brazilian attacking midfielder – on Monday. Shakhtar had raised and lowered their asking price throughout negotiations, and Klopp said the decision to pull out was a mutual one. “It was absolutely a common decision,” the manager said. “We said we cannot play this game until the end.

“We made offers – I won’t say too much about that but they were realistic, absolutely, with the pluses of it being January, the Premier League, all the pluses you have when you make negotiations with other clubs. But it was a case of ‘if you don’t want it, OK, we can’t change the situation, do what you want. You have to work respectfully and responsibly.”

Klopp revealed that given the high rate of player turnover in the Premier League he now views new signings as being on a one-year contract: “I know they have them for longer, but for me I say ‘okay, yes, you are in my team and if you don’t play the biggest rubbish in your life, I will trust you, you have to trust me’. And after a year, we’ll look. Maybe he wants somewhere else, maybe I want him to go somewhere else. That’s football.”

Liverpool’s refusal to meet the asking price for Teixeira means Steven Caulker was their only addition during the transfer window. But the manager was adamant that his side has the quality to cope in attack, and the squad depth to cope with a busy fixture list.

Christian Benteke is struggling while Roberto Firmino plays in fits and starts, but Klopp will be boosted by the return to training of Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi this week, while Danny Ings is stepping up his rehab following surgery on a cruciate ligament injury.

“We have enough strikers if they are all fit,” Klopp added. “I had lunch with Ingsy a few minutes ago. He’s not in the perfect way, but Tuesday will be his first time outside again.

“The situation that we had wasn’t too easy but it gave us the chance to show more faith and trust in young players than normal.

“I don’t think we’d have seen a few of these young lads in important games without injury problems and now we have it’s good for us, good for them, good for everybody. Now we know the squad is deep.”