In the summer of 2011, Borussia Dortmund, under the management of Jürgen Klopp, had won the club’s first Bundesliga title since 2002. Star midfielder Nuri Sahin was named Bundesliga player of the season by Kicker magazine. He was subsequently sold to Real Madrid.
The next season Klopp’s side went on to repeat their remarkable feat and win the Bundesliga for a second consecutive season. Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa was named Asian International Player of the Year after contributing to the title win with 13 goals and 12 assists, second only to Robert Lewandowski when it came to goal contributions. He was subsequently sold Manchester United.
The following season the side managed to reach the final of the Champions League while also finishing second in the Bundesliga behind a resurgent Bayern Munich.
Klopp’s teams weren’t deterred by the sale of star players, and they continued to improve despite a number of sales. While the constant siphoning of the club’s best talent did eventually take its toll on this Dortmund dynasty, the club fought and won against the odds for a number of seasons.
If Liverpool are to sell Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, either this summer or next, Klopp will be in a similar position to those he found himself in at Dortmund when he lost his side’s best midfielders for two seasons running.
Though the Bundesliga is a less competitive division than the English Premier League - in that if you finish above Bayern Munich you’ve a good chance of winning the league -- there is evidence that a Klopp side can kick on even after the loss of a star player.
In England there are six clubs battling it out for the top spot and below that there is an even more intense battle for a place in the top four, but the club have already beaten off competition from Premier League heavyweights Arsenal and Manchester United to pip them to fourth last season.
In an ideal world a club like Liverpool would now be building from a position of strength; keeping Coutinho while adding further quality around him. But when it comes to South American footballers being pursued by Spanish super club Barcelona, there is usually only one outcome. Liverpool know this all too well with Luis Suarez, who left from Merseyside to Catalonia in 2014 despite the club having just qualified for the Champions League — a similar scenario to the one they’re in with Coutinho this summer.
Dortmund’s recruitment team were asked to replace high profile stars with lower profile players with similar attributes, and they did so impressively for a number of seasons.
Ilkay Gundogan arrived from FC Nürnberg to replace Sahin and become a star in his own right, while Marco Reus arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach and went on to become one of the most sought after players in Europe during his first two seasons at Dortmund.
While Liverpool’s recruitment under Klopp so far has been largely effective, if not extravagant, the real test came this summer when they could step into the market with the promise of Champions League football. But while their identification of players to improve the team has been spot on, their ability to ruthlessly land more high profile targets has been lacking.
Selling Coutinho would bring an even bigger test. It would be much more difficult for a club like Liverpool to replace such a player than it was for Dortmund to replace Sahin and Kagawa, but in Klopp they have a manager who can get the most from any potential new signings, even if they might not be the high profile names which Reds fans currently crave.
You could also argue that the only reason Naby Keita has such a high profile at the moment is as a result of Liverpool’s overhyped pursuit of the player, even though his talent already deserved the billing he’s currently getting.
So Klopp faces certain obstacles in England that he didn’t in Germany. The increased competition plus the added difficulties in the transfer market will make it trickier for him to unearth the next Gundogan, Kagawa, Lewandowski, or Reus, but Klopp is still the same manager he was at Dortmund and has already improved many Liverpool players, including Coutinho.
Signings such as Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah will give the fans hope that if there is a gap which needs plugging, Klopp and his team will bring in the appropriate player. The signings of Andrew Robertson and Dominic Solanke also show that they have the potential to unearth a bargain in an increasingly exorbitant market.
If Coutinho is to leave this summer or next, the German has shown in the past that the departure of one player, no matter how good they were for his team, will not impact on the club’s aims going forward. While this type of feat could be more difficult to carry out at Liverpool than it was at Dortmund, it still gives encouragement that the sale of one player shouldn’t mean that Liverpool can’t challenge for the titles the fans, the club, and Klopp himself crave.
