Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp admits his new deal is tied to the club's transfer plans.

But the German remained tightlipped over the Merseyside club's plans to bring in RB Salzburg forward Takumi Minamino in January.

Reds supporters have been hit by two important pieces of positive news in the past two days; firstly that a £7.25m deal for Minamino is on the brink of completion, then that the manager had extended his Anfield stay until 2024.

And Klopp has now explained how both announcements are at least partly linked by a commitment to forward planning.

He said: “The club was asking for a while already if we could talk about an extension. In the specific moment I thought it makes sense before things are getting a bit intense.

“Not now, obviously, it was completely calm, as it should be, but maybe in the summer we would have started again talking about things like that.

“New players, when you want to bring them in, they ask how long is the manager here and stuff like that. We all wanted avoided that, it's now done, and I'm really happy about that."

Klopp refused, however, to be drawn on Liverpool's imminent move for Minamino, though he did express some admiration.

He added: “There's nothing else to say about it actually.

“We speak about it in the moment like we do about all potential transfers - in the moment when it's sorted, not earlier. So nothing to say about it.

“A very good player, I can say that, but I saw a few very good players in the Salzburg team. Much more than I wanted, especially in the first half!"