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It was a turbo-charged assault on the transfer market 12 months ago that would eventually propel Liverpool towards glory.

The Reds, fresh from their silver medals in the Champions League final of 2018, embarked on the biggest spending spree in their history, with around £170million splashed on just four players.

Xherdan Shaqiri and Alisson joined Fabinho through the doors at Melwood, while Naby Keita finally arrived nearly a year after his switch from RB Leipzig was agreed.

Each player was bought with a specific plan in mind for Jurgen Klopp.

Shaqiri would add depth to the Reds' forward ranks, with the versatility of the Switzerland international a key factor behind his cut-price £13million move from relegated Stoke City.

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Naby Keita would be the injection of dynamism that perhaps Liverpool's midfield had previously lacked, while Fabinho was signed to add some steel and muscle to the engine room.

Alisson was a major upgrade on Loris Karius, whose two blunders had cost the Reds so dearly in Kiev against Real Madrid earlier that summer.

Liverpool spent, and they spent big, but the Reds were shrewd, ensuring that they had something to show for their biggest-ever summer outlay.

A sixth European Cup was justification.

(Image: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Make no mistake, coming off the back of a 97-point Premier League campaign and a Champions League triumph, Liverpool are now in a position to cement themselves as one of the world's biggest and best clubs for the foreseeable future.

The Reds have never been as well placed as they are now to end their 30-year wait for a 19th league crown, and the football power shift was something Jose Mourinho lamentably predicted last summer.

The then Manchester United boss foresaw what Klopp was continuing to build at Anfield, using the Reds' ongoing progress to demand his own club were jolted in action.

"The other clubs who compete with us are really strong and already have fantastic teams," said Mourinho last August.

"Or they are investing massively like Liverpool, who are buying everything and everybody.

"If we don't make our team better it will be a difficult season for us."

Later that month, the now ex-United boss was again highlighting Liverpool's aggressive and intelligent approach to the market.

"I think Liverpool are trying to buy the title, but when I say buying I mean 'buying' with amazing investment," he said.

(Image: Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

Mourinho had been discussing Liverpool's transfer dealings a month earlier on the clubs' respective tours of the United States.

He said: "I think if you have the money, if you invest well, is better than to have it in the bank, because the interests are very low.

"The problem is you have to invest well and honestly I think they did very well because every player they bought are quality players and I'm happy for them.

"But maybe this season finally you demand that [Liverpool] win.

"You, I think, you have to be fair and now you have to demand and say the team with investments, who are making investments that they started making last season, not just this season, last season.

"I don't see another team getting close to that level of investment, a team that was a finalist in the Champions League, you have to say you are a big candidate.

"You have to win."

They would prove to be prophetic words from the Portuguese. United failed to land their primary targets, struggled defensively and looked bereft of creativity.

The problems mounted and Mourinho was axed in December before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ran into the same issues almost immediately after signing a permanent contract March.

(Image: Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Klopp's team, in contrast, would take their Premier League title challenge to the final day, ending with a club-record 97 points, losing narrowly to Pep Guardiola's Manchester City.

Three weeks later, they became European champions, seeing off a Tottenham side 2-0 in Madrid to vindicate the sterling work Klopp has overseen since pitching up as manager in October 2015.

And while a more subdued and conservative summer of spending is anticipated at Anfield this time around, Liverpool will again provide the main threat to City's attempts to make it three straight titles next season.

Last summer's transfer window proved to be a watershed moment for Klopp's Reds, and it seems their great rivals United knew it all along.