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Jurgen Klopp has been a man on a mission to end the Anfield talent drain.

He had vowed to make Liverpool a final destination for elite performers rather than simply a stepping stone.

After reluctantly sanctioning the £142million sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona in January, he was adamant that no other gems would follow the Brazilian out of the exit door.

“As a club we have to be like there is no need to leave from the sports side,” Klopp said. “We really have a lot to offer. The club is trying everything to do things differently.”

Ten months on the signs are highly promising. Liverpool's trio of world-class attackers have all committed their long-term futures to the club.

Roberto Firmino set the ball rolling in April,Mohamed Salah followed in July and now Sadio Mane has agreed a contract to keep him at Anfield until 2023.

It's a ringing endorsement of the progress Klopp has overseen and shows the belief key personnel have in where the club is heading.

When you boil it down, players want riches and glory. Lucrative new deals guarantee the former, but it's the latter which must be achieved to ensure that admiring glances aren't cast elsewhere.

The key transfer business

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The willingness of those three Kop favourites to pen new deals without release clauses shows that they believe that they can realise their dreams at Anfield. Crucially, they are convinced that the club's ambition matches their own.

Make no mistake, Firmino, Salah and Mane would complement any team in Europe.

They plundered 91 goals between them last season and although they haven't produced the same kind of fireworks so far this term, they have still netted 19 times.

Far too often over the past decade Liverpool have lost top players before they reached their peak.

Xabi Alonso was 27, Javier Mascherano 26, Fernando Torres 27, Luis Suarez 27 and Coutinho 25. Torres aside, their best years were still in front of them.

See what was said during Jurgen Klopp's pre-Watford press conference HERE

Firmino is currently 27 with Mane and Salah a year younger. Now all three are under contract for the next five years.

Cynics will say that doesn't guarantee anything. They will point to the fact that Suarez and Coutinho were both gone within 12 months of signing their own extensions.

But those were different situations. For a start Suarez had a release clause, while Coutinho's dream to follow the Uruguayan to the Camp Nou was well known.

This is now a different looking Liverpool. This is a club now able to flex its muscle and compete at the top end of the transfer market – underlined by the bumper deals for Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker.

In Klopp, the Reds have a manager with genuine pulling power. He can attract the best and he can retain them.

Now big prizes must follow for Klopp to truly achieve that mission of ensuring anyone who moves on is taking a step down rather than up.