Former Liverpool player John Barnes believes Chelsea’s potential signing of Timo Werner is largely due to the fact that Jurgen Klopp decided to opt out.
Liverpool were reported to be the favourites to sign the 24-year-old from RB Leipzig having pursued the player for some months now.
Despite the interest, Werner looks to be heading to Frank Lampard’s side after they reportedly agreed a deal in principle to bring the Germany international to Stamford Bridge.
Football fans have questioned the Reds decision not to table any offer for the forward but Barnes believes it is a matter of Klopp feeling the player is not that much a necessity.
Barnes told BonusCodeBets on the Werner saga: “We’ve seen over the last couple of years that we trust Jurgen Klopp.
“If Jurgen Klopp wanted him, he would have got him, he would have demanded that they paid the money if he felt it was worth it. If he doesn’t feel it’s worth it, whether it is money or whatever reason, then we don’t get him.
“So, I think that had Liverpool wanted him, he would have gone to Liverpool rather than Chelsea.
“I’m not saying that he’s not a good player, but Jurgen Klopp has taken a decision that he didn’t want him that badly in terms of the money that they were going to spend and we trust him. We’re not going to feel that we’ve lost out to Chelsea – we would not have lost out to Chelsea had Jurgen Klopp wanted him badly enough.”
Liverpool’s performance this season has been too good to pick loopholes in the team and Barnes insists it’s no big deal that the Blues have moved ahead of Liverpool to sign the German.
The former Red star added: “If the chasing pack catch Liverpool, how can Liverpool improve? They’ve lost one game, they just have to keep doing what they’re doing.
“If the pack catches them up, that means that the pack is improving, Liverpool cannot improve, so what can Liverpool do?
“They’ve lost one game all season, so next year what can they do to improve? It’s up to the others to improve, that’s what they will do, but Liverpool do not need to improve to get any better.
“What they can do is maintain the consistency and I feel that with what we have, we can maintain the consistency.
“If other teams get better, Liverpool can’t do anything about that, it’s all about taking care of themselves.”
