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Cape Town - Liverpool
manager Jurgen Klopp has explained the thinking behind his decision not
to rival Manchester United for the signature of Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
Mkhitaryan, 27, joined the Red Devils from Borussia Dortmund in a £26 million move, with Klopp instead opting to sign Georginio Wijnaldum from Newcastle United for a similar fee.
It had previously been suggested that Klopp could seek to be reunited with Mkhitaryan, having brought the Armenia international to Dortmund from Shakhtar Donetsk in 2013. Added to that, Liverpool were strongly credited with an interest in the player prior to his switch to Dortmund.
When asked why he had decided not to make a move for the attacking midfielder, Klopp told the Liverpool Echo: "I had that player. If you have had players, you know more about them. You want to learn about other players. That's how it is.
"I knew quite early that he was going this way [to United]. There was absolutely no reason for me to jump in there. That isn't how we work.
"We didn't look for players we had already worked with. If you do that, you know their good, their bad and you wonder whether you will do it again.
"It's not boring but you know everything about each other so how can you develop? Where is the next step? Where is the next push for development?
"We could have gone for a lot of players. But, first of all, you have to think, 'what do I need?'"
