Klopp won't be targeting Dortmund stars

New Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said he wants his side to play “memorable” football — but he will not be going after big names from his old club to help them do it.

Klopp, who stressed that he had no plans to raid Borussia Dortmund for new players, signed a three-year contract at Anfield last Thursday.

The 48-year-old’s appointment led to talk of him looking to strengthen the Liverpool squad by targeting Dortmund players including centre-back Mats Hummels and midfielders Ilkay Gundogan and Marco Reus.

But Klopp, who won two Bundesliga titles in his seven years as Dortmund boss, told Bild: “That is in no way my approach.”

On Sunday, Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke said he did not expect Klopp’s arrival at Liverpool to unsettle his club’s key players.

“I am 100 percent certain that such a thing would never happen behind our backs,” he told Bild.

“And Jurgen would also never do anything to harm BVB. We’re too close to each other and have experienced too much together for that to happen.”

Klopp said he had been surprised by the level of hype surrounding his appointment, but stressed that he had not asked about the funding that might be available for new players.

“That doesn’t interest me at all,” he said. “It’s only October, and I don’t even know how many games there are until then [the start of the January transfer window].

“But there are only a few, so first we’ll look at the people we have got.”

Addressing the issue of expectations at Anfield, Klopp said he had been given a clear target by Liverpool’s owners.

“I spoke with the people responsible for a long time,” he said. “It’s simply to play memorable football.

“There’s no question that my coaching team and I have taken on a huge challenge. But that was clear to us.

“Liverpool have not had any success for a long, long time and they’ve repeatedly changed their manager.

“In me, they’ve now hired a German who cannot perform any miracles either. But development does not work without time.”

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