This might sound strange but watching the Europa League final in May, I found myself wanting Jurgen Klopp’s team to win – although not because I enjoy watching Liverpool parade a trophy. Quite the opposite: I was thinking months ahead to the implications European football, or the absence of it, would have on their league form this season.

I am a Manchester United fan, and I was so long before I played for the club. I grew up in Salford when, 33 miles down the road, Liverpool had the best team in England, and often Europe. I know what it is like to live as a United fan with that great shadow cast from the west and in the years that have followed, as United became ever more successful, there was still no better feeling than coming away from Anfield with a result.

During that final against Sevilla, it occurred to me that if Liverpool had this season without the draining effect of European football, and had recruited well in the summer, then they would have a real chance of challenging for the Premier League. With a year at the club, Klopp would be better suited to the demands of the English game, his players would be well adapted to his way of playing and they would have no mid-week distraction from the task at the weekend.