Jurgen Klopp explains Liverpool signing Thiago will help cope with 'not normal' season schedule

Jurgen Klopp has explained how this season’s compressed calendar was part of the reason behind his decision to bolster Liverpool’s midfield with the signing of Thiago Alcantara.

It was initially thought that the Reds would be required to sell one of their many midfield options this summer before making a move for the Spain international.

However, a deal worth a potential £25m was confirmed on Friday afternoon amid suggestions that Georginio Wijnaldum is likely to snub interest from Barcelona.

Renowned for preferring to work with a smaller squad, Klopp appears to be keen to stockpile options in the centre of the park this summer.

But he has now revealed that a hectic fixture schedule and the decision to revert to three substitutes per team is part of his thinking on that front.

He said: “It’s clear, if we have more than three midfielders and we play 4-3-3 then [for] a couple of players it was always the case that they will not start.

“Some will come on or not have the opportunity to come on or not be in the squad for matchday, that’s how it is.

“My job is to show the players how important they are in pretty much every moment - in training, in the side line-up, on the bench, or a week later in exactly the same situation.

“We have too many games; I cannot prepare for a normal season when the season is not normal, that just doesn’t work.

“Because we [don’t have] the opportunity to change five times, we have to find other ways how we can make sure that the players are as fresh as possible.

“At the moment, that means probably rotation. We didn’t plan it yet, I don’t say that we play on Sunday like this and on Thursday like this and then the Monday after that like this. I have no idea who will play in the other games, I have an idea for Sunday but not for the other games, we have to react.

“But if everyone’s fit, rotation is absolutely necessary because otherwise it just doesn’t work.

“The international players, until the next window, and I’m not 100 per cent sure but I think England plays three games?

“So obviously some games there as well, so we just have to try to make sure that we can deal with this situation, that’s what we try. I want my players to be happy but I cannot make them happy, they are a big part of that as well.”

Klopp went on to pay tribute to Thiago’s ‘rare’ skillset, and expressed delight that the former Barcelona man did not need much convincing to move to Anfield.

He added: “It’s pretty simple. He is - and nobody would see it in a different way - an absolutely exceptional player.

“It’s difficult - we said it last year already and we say it this year - to improve a team like us, in the moment, in a normal way.

“If we take now £300/400m, then maybe we could find some player, but even then it’s not easy. In this specific case, he really brings in a specific dimension, some skills which are generally rare but they suit us pretty well.

“It says nothing about the other players, it’s only different and that is of course what I was interested in.

“Apart from that, he was pretty excited about the opportunity as well so there was not a lot of convincing needed. That helps as well, if somebody really wants to be part of a specific project, that’s nice.

“So all the things came pretty much together and that’s, how you would say, a win-win situation and I’m really happy that we could do it.”