Jurgen Klopp: Liverpool will 'spend in the summer' after 'anomaly' season

Reds face fight to finish in Premier League top four, less than a year after competing for the quadruple

Jurgen Klopp revealed Liverpool will be active in the transfer market this summer. Getty

Jurgen Klopp has said Liverpool will "spend in the summer" with the aim to bounce back from a disappointing season, which he described as an "anomaly".

Liverpool were in contention for an unprecedented quadruple last season after winning the League Cup and FA Cup but fell just short after being pipped to the Premier League title by Manchester City and narrowly losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid.

This season, though, as seen a remarkable drop-off from the Reds, who sit sixth in the Premier League table - seven points behind fourth-placed Tottenham albeit having played two games fewer - while exiting both domestic cups and the Champions League in the first knockout stage.

A top-four finish, and with it qualification to next season's Champions League, is all that Klopp's side can now salvage from the campaign, and they travel to champions Manchester City on Saturday afternoon for what could be a crucial match to their remaining ambition.

Much of the criticism for Liverpool's decline has been aimed at their midfield, while the team has had to adjust to the departure of key forward Sadio Mane, who joined Bayern Munich last summer. The Senegal star's big-money replacement, Darwin Nunez, has taken time to settle, and January arrival Cody Gakpo is still getting up to speed with his new team.

Attention has already turned to how Liverpool will strengthen in the summer, with Borussia Dortmund's England midfielder Jude Bellingham reportedly their top target.

"We will spend in the summer, that's what I can say definitely," Klopp said. "For who and how many and stuff like this, there is nothing to say about, really."

Premier League predictions

Meanwhile, Klopp said criticism of the club's medical and physical preparation was misplaced despite the role injuries to key players have played in a difficult season.

"(This season is) an anomaly but I would prefer we were still in the Champions League spot," said Klopp. "It doesn't change overnight, you don't lose all our brains and fitness and medical (department).

"Things happen and then you have to react, but when you are a little bit unlucky in this direction then it's really difficult and the league is running away at that moment.

"That is where we were. The football part, we didn't deal well enough with setbacks through the season."