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Jurgen Klopp has rejected suggestions Liverpool should have done more in the January transfer window - insisting teams have refused to sell the players the Reds wanted.

Saturday’s devastating 3-2 home loss to Swansea - leaving the Reds fourth in the Premier League and just two points away from slipping out of the Champions League places altogether - heightened the feeling among many that Klopp should have been more active in the winter window.

The absence of Sadio Mane at the Africa Cup of Nations in particular has led supporters to believe a replacement should have been in place for a crucial month of the season which has seen the Reds win just one game in six.

Liverpool were keen to bring Christian Pulisic or Julian Brandt to Anfield but neither Borussia Dortmund or Bayer Leverkusen would contemplate business half way through the season.

The Reds also spoke with Julian Draxler but he was eventually attracted to the Qatari-backed project at PSG.

Klopp admitted that Liverpool wanted to bring in new faces but said it was only worthwhile if getting the right players to improve the squad.

He said: “I understand it is absolutely normal, people ask whether we should have brought players in.

“The situation is yes, on the one side pretty simple, but on the other hand it is pretty difficult.

“It is not that we don’t want to bring players in. We do. But the thing is, the players we want because we think they help us, the clubs don’t sell. It is not about money in this situation, it is the winter transfer market.”

Klopp hinted that Liverpool had been prepared to pay a premium to ensure they could get their targets in January but said clubs simply were not interested in extra cash.

And he believes there are a limited number of players in the market he would seek to bring in who would improve his team and he would rather wait rather than make the wrong signing.

It is not as if there are 20 players out there who can make this team stronger

The Reds boss added: “Clubs are saying ‘no we have half a year to go, we can not find another player like this, we prefer to take money in the summer, than a few pound more in the winter than whatever’. So it is pretty easy.

“You see the situation, it’s tight, it’s close, we know that, but if the right decision is not possible in signing the right player, then you cannot make the wrong transfer.

“It is not as if there are 20 players out there who could make this team stronger, who are running around and are available. That is the situation.

“That is why I say we know the situation, we are prepared to move, but for the right player.

“We are not the only side who can decide the outcome of that though eh? The other club (selling club) makes the decision too.”

With Liverpool coming up empty in the window so far, the current squad has struggled to maintain its form into the New Year.

The defeat to Swansea saw Liverpool lose their record of being unbeaten in the league at Anfield for a year and they have now collected just two points out of the last nine available in the Premier League.

The second leg of the EFL Cup semi-final on Wednesday against Southampton now appears a massive game for Klopp’s side as they seek to arrest their worrying slide.