Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has defended his approach to the summer market.

Klopp was asked directly about some foreign-based targets and insisted they looked at several players.

Asked why Liverpool didn't pursue a Plan B after failing to land Van Dijk, Klopp said: “I said if there would have been a solution out there we would have done it. There was no solution.

When it was put to him that either Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly or Ajax's Davinson Sanchez, who ended up joining Tottenham, would have been among the other suitable options to bolster his backline, Klopp said: “No. We watched all of them 500 million times.

“Just to cool the people down, what if the new player doesn't hit the first ball (like Dejan Lovren against Sevilla) and he makes exactly the same mistake? A mistake they all made in their life – but it is like 'He is a £65 million signing, he will improve'.

“Why do you think the other one cannot improve? I don't understand that. We want to make the right decisions. A big part of football and life is really putting faith in the people you work with – trust them – because they all can improve.

“What I see from all the questions, you start too early coming back to these things. For me it's really difficult always to come completely on your planet, visit you and say 'Yeah you're right, there were five good options out there and we missed them because, I don't know, we wanted to spend the money anywhere else'."