"I’m not in a job anymore": Klopp comments make sense again as " crazy" £500k/week deal threatens two Liverpool targets

Manchester City are close to signing reported Liverpool target, Erling Haaland, with the forward set to become the highest-paid player in the Premier League next season.

According to the Daily Mail, City have agreed personal terms worth over £500,000 per week with Haaland and will trigger his £63million release clause to take him to the Etihad this summer.

Jurgen Klopp may have foreshadowed the news of Haaland moving to City with his comments on the cost of signing the Norwegian last week.

He said: “We won’t be going there. The numbers involved are just crazy – we’ll be having nothing to do with it.

“No chance! To be honest, I don’t want anything to do with it. It’s not fun.”

The German has rarely spent outlandish sums on players since arriving at Anfield even if he was branded a hypocrite after signing Virgil van Dijk for £75million around a year after suggesting Manchester United had overpaid for Paul Pogba.

When the Frenchman arrived in the Premier League for £93.2million, Klopp said: "The day that this is football, I’m not in a job anymore."

Pogba's career at Old Trafford since may have justified Klopp's comments but the Liverpool boss did then go and sign van Dijk for £75m, Alisson for £66m, Naby Keita for £52m and Fabinho for £40m. However, with the exception of Keita, all have proven to be resounding success stories and are pivotal to the way Liverpool play.

Those comments are relevant again now though. While Pogba was a good player in his own right, United overpaid. While Haaland is a fantastic talent, he's not worth the wages and his injury record this season has been suspect.

Signing Haaland for £63m sounds like a good deal when you consider that he essentially guarantees 30-40 goals per season but his £500,000+/week wages are outrageous.

The issue that Liverpool now face is that it creates trouble down the road for them with regard to two potential transfer targets.

The first one, Karim Adeyemi, is now set to join Borussia Dortmund as a replacement for Haaland and so any ambitions the Reds still harboured of signing him may have vanished into thin air.

However, the arrival of Luis Diaz from Porto means that Jurgen Klopp's attacking depth is simply outstanding now and while Divock Origi is set to leave in the summer, a natural no.9 to replace him is what's needed - not another versatile wide player.

Most frustratingly, Haaland moving to City would likely mean that Borussia Dortmund would refuse to sell £100million Liverpool target Jude Bellingham.

The Bundesliga outfit typically has a one-out-one-in policy when it comes to selling their superstars and replacing them with young talent. They sold Jadon Sancho to Manchester United last summer and resisted Chelsea's attempts to sign Haaland.

Bellingham is a player many fans dream of seeing play in midfield for the Reds but it's currently unlikely to see him arriving in the summer unless Liverpool are able to stump up an incredible sum of money.