Mkhitaryan Didn't Interest Klopp

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed he was never interested in adding Henrikh Mkhitaryan to his squad when it became clear the Armenia international wanted to leave Borussia Dortmund.

The attacking midfielder was linked to several top clubs earlier on in the summer before being signed by Manchester United for a fee of £26.3m in July.

Klopp had worked with Mkhitaryan during his time as manager of Dortmund but said he did not think the 27-year-old would be a good fit at Anfield.

"I had that player," Klopp told the Liverpool Echo. "If you have had players, you know more about them. You want to learn about other players. That's how it is.

"I knew quite early that he was going this way (to United). There was absolutely no reason for me to jump in there. That isn't how we work."

Liverpool have made seven new signings in preparation for the 2016/2017 season, including Georginio Wijnaldum, Sadio Mane, Marko Grujic, Alex Manninger, Lorius Karius, Joel Matip and Ragnar Klavan.

The German manager said when he was looking for new players, his approach was to seek out players unknown to him, rather than familiar faces.

"We didn't look for players we had already worked with. If you do that, you know their good, their bad and you wonder whether you will do it again," Klopp added. "It's not boring but you know everything about each other so how can you develop? Where is the next step? Where is the next push for development?

"We could have gone for a lot of players. But, first of all, you have to think: what do I need?"

Credit: Skysports.com