In Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool and FSG Struck transfer Gold.

The appointment of Jürgen Klopp will be remembered as a crucial turning moment for Liverpool in the twenty-first century in the history books. Before, there were other noteworthy events, not the least of which was the club’s Champions League victory in Istanbul, but nothing altered the club’s trajectory as significantly as the German’s hiring.

That gives the club’s owners, FSG, an unbeatable trump card they can use whenever their management of the team is questioned. However, it’s possible that even they are unaware of how brilliantly they brought Klopp to Liverpool.

It makes sense that Klopp’s skill as a manager will dominate the story in retrospect. The master of gegenpressing who transformed a top-four contender from a relatively motley group and eventually put together a team that would win everything would be the subject of attention for those who come to chronicle the heights reached by Liverpool in their second great age of domination.

But putting together that team was a collective effort. We recently discussed how some people undervalue the assistance Klopp receives in the transfer market. FSG has done a good job of recruiting outside of the infield, with people like Michael Edwards and later Julian Ward playing important parts in the process. As Chelsea are currently displaying, there is another side to the coin.

Attempting to play God, making decisions in an effort to control outcomes.

Brendan Rodgers led Liverpool prior to the appointment of Klopp. He was a great coach in his own right. He did not, however, naturally fit into the FSG concept because of his frequent disagreements with the transfer committee, which prevented the realization of a shared vision.

Tuchel is currently in manager of Chelsea. In many ways, his career has paralleled that of Klopp, and he is seen as the forerunner of the next generation of top coaches. He is exactly the type of coach FSG would have tried to appoint if Liverpool were transported back to their 2015 position right now.

But such an appointment simply could not have been as successful as hiring Klopp. All other things being equal — and without getting drawn into a debate about who is the better ‘pure’ coach — the collaborative processes that have turned Liverpool into transfer masters would not have worked under Tuchel.

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Sport, via the Star, report that Tuchel is currently ‘pressuring’ new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly to land a 33-year-old Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. That’s reminiscent of developments at Manchester United, where Erik Ten Hag is going after players he has previously worked with at every possible opportunity. Even if either board had a transfer vision, they would face resistance in implementing it.

Comparatively, Klopp has been open to ideas for foreign transfers from the beginning and hasn’t changed his mind as his own stock has risen. FSG, on the other hand, would never force a signing on him, and he wouldn’t even insist that Liverpool buy a specific player. Few managers could foster this genuine spirit of teamwork, which is essential to the club’s success in the modern era.

It should be no surprise that Klopp is one of the rare few who can work well in such a setting. This, after all, is the man who did not negotiate a pay rise for himself at his latest Liverpool renewal, but made sure all his backroom staff received improved terms. He is well aware that every success is a genuine team effort — and that, ironically, is part of what makes him uniquely brilliant.