Klopp choked up: Jota will always live in his memory; if nothing unexpected happens, Liverpool’s summer window will be different

Hupu reported on October 20 that Red Bull’s global football director Klopp accepted an exclusive interview with TheDiaryOfACEO.

(This interview is two and a half hours long, please forgive me for having to split it up...)

This is your net expenditure during your coaching period. Do you have your own attitude?

Many people, including the public, think that I asked the Liverpool boss for money but failed to get it. Is this right? No, we can't do that.

At that time, I felt that I got a strong response. My idea has always been that, together with these boys, my goal is to make the Liverpool team at that time the best team.

You're right, we may not be the best team. I think there was a time when we were playing football where you would have thought that was probably the best game played by the best team. I don’t know the specific time... it should be 18 to 20 years? It was a long time, um, but that's how we always thought about it.

We always beat the best teams. We've always thought this way because it's constant. Next best, next best, we can beat you, we can beat you, be the best, you know, you're the one that everybody wants to beat.

I like this. So that's the net expense or something like that. I've never been too worried. We had all these conversations.

Yes. I'm very satisfied with my coaching experience. I can't discuss it with anyone. No, I don't get to decide how much we spend. Not only is it impossible, Slott also has no say in how much money Liverpool spend. That's it. Someone else does decide,

If you have the money, you spend it on really good players, like Liverpool did this year. I think this is the right thing to do.

And I'm sure one specific moment changed the entire transfer window.

Yes. That was the saddest day of last season. Just...em, how can you just replace someone like Diogo Jota? This is not just a player, but more importantly, a person like him.

He is nice to everyone. Be nice to everyone. I remember when I first saw him playing for Wolves, he said what was that, and when I went you always heard people telling me these stories, yeah, Salah, they had to convince me and stuff like that, I didn't believe I was going to pick him, but it seemed like there were other players and Mo was one of them, and then together we decided to pick Salah.

But I tell you, when they showed him Jota's video, I saw him and I said please give me more video analysis, I have to meet him, that's it.

He, he exceeded everyone's expectations as a super smart, super teammate and now he's sitting in the locker room and I can't imagine being in the locker room without him right now and it's so hard, it's so hard and I still can't talk about it, really.

(Klopp was a bit choked up and incoherent)

It was an unbelievable blow, also for my boys. I don’t think we’re going to talk about it because otherwise some bad reporter is going to make up what I say about him and what it means.

No one in Liverpool will use this as an excuse, but it is what it is, you walk in this room every day, and the people who have always been there suddenly disappear.

He can you imagine him talking about Tim? He's so close to James Milner, they're not in the same age group, they're completely different, it's just him, but on the other hand he's so close to Tsimikas, and Salah, which is Jota.

As a person on a personal level, it is not easy or impossible to deal with this matter. Now, as a club, we have to put aside the emotional issues and think about how do we find his replacement?

You have to think carefully. Wow, this is so hard. I want to say, it's really impossible. Then this summer, Liverpool had to enter the transfer market to buy people. I believe this was completely unplanned. Then, they bought two people...

Do you remember where you were when you heard the news?

Yes. I got a message this morning. Boss, I have bad news. Then I got a message from a friend, from Liverpool, and I couldn't believe it.

Me, I just think it’s impossible. I heard it, I knew what it meant, but I just couldn't believe it.

The whole story. I obviously saw all the pictures from the wedding and all the boys were there and stuff like that. And just before that, um, I remember exactly where I was. I was, I was, I was, I was sitting there for how long without saying a word. So it's like family. That's it.

So, you see, that's it. This is an example of something you have to deal with and you have absolutely no idea when it's going to happen. You can't prepare yourself for something like this.

What we are discussing today is that if Liverpool really wants to rethink the transfer window, the situation will be completely different. Yes. So you have to sort out those things that you never thought about, you have to think about.

Everyone hopes that Jota can play for Liverpool for another ten years. He is an all-round player who can play in all positions and plays well.

At the end of this question, Klopp choked up:

Me too. I can say the same. I could say the same about him. I was impressed by his temperament. Very very special. Very special.

I have to say that he is a boy who will always live in my memory.