When Jurgen Klopp spoke to Liverpool supporters at an event in December, he felt compelled to admit that the club's midfield overhaul has gone better than he could ever have expected. "During the summer, we had a few strange things happen in the transfer market," he acknowledged, "but here now, between us, I can say, 'My god, were we lucky, eh?!' We didn't know that at the time, and it didn’t feel like it at the time, but I'm really happy that it worked out."
Klopp's relief was understandable. Liverpool looked like losers when the season began with them still searching for a defensive midfielder. They had, as Jamie Carragher pointed out, made "a mess" of their recruitment strategy, losing out on not only Moises Caicedo to Chelsea, but also Romeo Lavia in rather farcical fashion.
Indeed, the former Reds defender called the situation "a joke" - but nobody at Anfield could see the funny side. All of the excitement generated at the start of the summer transfer window by the quickly-completed acquisitions of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai had given way to embarrassment by the time Liverpool belatedly brought in a specialist No.6.