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Here’s Jurgen Klopp, speaking shortly after being unveiled as Liverpool manager in October.

“I don’t want to spend money the club haven’t got. Nobody will sell a player I want to work with, and buy a player without my 'yes'.”

Reds chief executive Ian Ayre discussed the same matter the following month.

“There’s only one person that has the final say over what players are at Liverpool Football Club and that’s Jurgen Klopp right now.”

And the position of the German hadn’t changed by the time January came around.

“Do I have the final say? Yes. It’s how I am used to work. If I don’t want a player to come to the club he will not come. It’s normal.”

With Liverpool having agreed another eye-watering fee with Southampton to further deplete the South Coast side’s squad, fingers are already being pointed at the much-maligned transfer committee.

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But the message from the club is unequivocal. Ultimate responsibility for the buying and selling of players at Liverpool rests on the manager.

And Klopp wouldn’t want it any other way.

The imminent arrival of Sadio Mane for in excess of £30million has prompted murmurs of discontent among a fanbase already concerned at Liverpool’s indifferent record in the transfer market in recent years.

But while the transfer committee – and, let’s face it, every club has one, even if it isn’t called as such – will have had significant influence, this is a player Klopp wants.

Just as Joel Matip, Marko Grujic and Loris Karius, Liverpool’s three other confirmed signings this summer, are players Klopp wanted.

And Piotr Zielinski, another Reds target, is a player Klopp wants.

Mane has been on Klopp’s radar for several years, back when he was in charge of Borussia Dortmund and the Senegalese was getting his wings at Red Bull Salzburg.

It’s coincidence that Mane was scouted comprehensively by Liverpool’s recruitment team two years ago, only for Brendan Rodgers to decline the opportunity to pursue his signature, the player instead ending up on the South Coast.

And here’s the rub.

That was Rodgers’ decision. And while there are on occasions the manager is left with little room to manoeuvre – witness the Mario Balotelli debacle – he’s always the one to green light any transfer.

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The evidence is there this summer.

Klopp utilised his Bundesliga knowledge to snare both Matip and Karius, while Grujic and Zielinski are of the profile – and how that word now irks Reds fans – that fits not just the business plan of Fenway Sports Group, but the manager’s own market approach.

Liverpool have a history of steering clear of statement, marquee signings in favour of those who fit into the framework of the team.

Back in the 1980s, the likes of John Aldridge and Ray Houghton didn’t overly rouse emotions on their arrival.

So too Sami Hyypia and Stephane Henchoz during the Gerard Houllier era. Likewise Xabi Alonso and Luis Garcia under Rafael Benitez.

Yet the history books indicate each contributed greatly to success at Anfield. They were bought for a reason, not to sate the demands of fans who want players that can shift shirts from the club shop.

Mane is the same. What’s different, though, is the ever-shifting Premier League landscape: with Watford’s Troy Deeney valued at £30m, Mane’s fee would seem the going rate in a market where prices are inflated by the new television deal.

Klopp has demonstrated with Dortmund in the Bundesliga that he can construct title-winning teams without relying heavily on high-profile captures.

Indeed, his modus operandi has been to transform players into star names rather than shipping them in.

Liverpool fans may, not without reason, not trust the concept and machinations of the transfer committee.

But they will have no option but to put their faith in Klopp.

After all, it’s the boss who is strapped in behind the wheel of this summer’s recruitment drive, whether snapping up a free agent or coming close to smashing the club’s transfer record.