Klopp’s Liverpool signing is now “one of the best players in the world”

The sight of Jurgen Klopp back on the touchline may well have had some of a Liverpool persuasion pining for the new Germany boss again.

Yes, Andoni Iraola has made a promising, unbeaten start to life at Anfield, but he’s no Klopp, that much is true, the enigmatic genius having galvanised a club and a city when taking charge back in 2015.

The former Borussia Dortmund boss was for so long the driving force on Merseyside, the man who ended the long wait for a Premier League title in 2019/20.

He was central to everything good about the Reds for almost a decade, although he couldn’t have done it with a string of key signings being made across his tenure.

Who was Klopp’s best signing at Liverpool?

Klopp, hired in October 2015, had taken a struggling side to the Europa League final by the end of that season, although it wasn’t until the summer of 2016 that he really began to put his imprint on the Liverpool squad.

That transfer window really set the tone for what was to follow, with Klopp, in tandem with those at boardroom level, bringing in the likes of Sadio Mané and Gini Wijnaldum, two men who would prove integral to the subsequent rise at Anfield.

You could say 2017 went even better, considering both Mohamed Salah and Andy Robertson arrived that year, the pair only recently departing this summer with legend status intact.

It’s hard to look past Salah as Klopp’s best signing, considering his return of 257 goals in 442 games in all competitions for the club, although a certain Virgil van Dijk might have something to say about that.

Indeed, it was the Dutchman’s arrival in 2018 that really appeared to transition the Reds into a truly serious, dominant outfit, with the spine of the side subsequently bolstered later that year by the Brazilian duo of Alisson and Fabinho.

A mix of those early signings, and those he had inherited from Brendan Rodgers, really did lay the foundations for Klopp’s stellar spell in charge.

That’s not to say some of his later signings haven’t also flourished on Merseyside too, however.

How Klopp signing has seen his value soar at Liverpool

From 2018 onwards, transfer success stories were perhaps less frequent, yet Klopp and co did still manage to secure a gem or two in the years after.

The 2024/25 title-winning side under Arne Slot was notably spearheaded by those who had been brought in under the previous regime, with Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz both shining in attack.

In midfield too, while he found it tough going under Klopp, Ryan Gravenberch was a man reborn under Slot’s watch, as too was Dominik Szoboszlai, the Hungarian arguably one of the best signings of 2020s at Anfield.

The £60m man wasn’t an initial success story, it must be said, having ended that solitary with Klopp in charge with a tally of just three goals and only three assists in the Premier League.

He’s firmly kicked on since then, however, proving a vital part of the 2024/25 triumph, while really coming into his own last season, even as the Reds suffered something of a decline.

It was almost a one-man band at times in 2025/26, with the all-action Szoboszlai emerging as almost a talismanic figure amid Salah’s steep drop-off.

Be it as a right-back, right-winger, or central midfielder, the former RB Leipzig star was immense last term, subsequently hailed by Salah himself as “one of the best players in the world right now”.

REUTERS/Scott Heppell

A deserved, bumper new deal was subsequently signed over the summer, with Szoboszlai remaining a key figure under Andoni Iraola in the early weeks of the season.

Of course, Iraola hasn’t found the right balance as yet in that midfield unit, but Szoboszlai has still delivered in key moments, notably netting against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, while also unleashing that thumping, stoppage-time effort against Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup.

There have arguably been more standout, consistent figures this season, be it Gakpo or young Jeremy Jacquet, yet even so, Szoboszlai’s place is secure as a real leader in this new era at Anfield.

That status is reflected too by the fact that, as per CIES Football Observatory, he is now the most valuable player at the club, his maximum value said to be as much as €139m (£118m).

Such a rise from his initial £60m fee speaks to just what a bargain he actually was back in 2023, with Klopp having struck gold on another potential Liverpool legend in the making.