Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says the newly crowned Premier League champions will not spend big money in the transfer market, saying it's hard to improve on an already impressive squad.
Klopp's side ended their 30-year wait for a league title last week as Manchester City failed to beat Chelsea.
The Reds have set plenty of records on route to a 19th championship, including securing the title with seven games to spare. They are on course to beat City's points tally for a single season of 100 set in 2018.
With the financial impact of the coronavirus pandemic likely to be felt for years to come, Klopp said that, even if handed a sizable war chest, spending it would not necessarily be easy or the right thing to do.
They have already ceded to Chelsea in the pursuit of RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner, who signed for the London club for £53 million (Dh244m) just over a week ago.
"Covid has of course influenced both sides with ins and outs, that is completely normal, and it's just not likely that it will be the most busy summer in the world," Klopp told reporters.
"But maybe at a later point in the year, if the transfer window is still open, we will know more. But this squad ... look at it.
"It is not a squad you have to change now and say 'OK, we need this position and this position'."
The Liverpool boss said he had a "first 16 or 17" who could all play at the same level.
"We cannot spend millions and millions and millions because we want to or we think it is nice to do," he added. "We never wanted that."
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Liverpool fans celebrate
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Klopp's last big buy was the purchase of Alisson Becker for £65 million in 2018, while he also laid out a then world record £75 million for a defender to sign Virgil van Dijk in 2017.
While several players will leave at the end of the season - including former England internationals Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne - the Merseyside club have instead focussed on securing key players and young players to long-term deals.
Wales under-19 international Neco Williams has impressed, along with academy graduate Curtis Jones and fellow young forward Harvey Elliott.
"You have to be creative and we try to be creative," said Klopp. "We try to find solutions internally and there is still a lot to come. We have three or four players who can make big steps."
Next up for Liverpool is a trip to recently unseated champions Manchester City, who are expected to form a guard of honour for the Reds at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
FIXTURES
All times UAE ( 4 GMT)
Friday
Saint-Etienne v Montpellier (10.45pm)
Saturday
Monaco v Caen (7pm)
Amiens v Bordeaux (10pm)
Angers v Toulouse (10pm)
Metz v Dijon (10pm)
Nantes v Guingamp (10pm)
Rennes v Lille (10pm)
Sunday
Nice v Strasbourg (5pm)
Troyes v Lyon (7pm)
Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (11pm)
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Key recommendations
- Fewer criminals put behind bars and more to serve sentences in the community, with short sentences scrapped and many inmates released earlier.
- Greater use of curfews and exclusion zones to deliver tougher supervision than ever on criminals.
- Explore wider powers for judges to punish offenders by blocking them from attending football matches, banning them from driving or travelling abroad through an expansion of ‘ancillary orders’.
- More Intensive Supervision Courts to tackle the root causes of crime such as alcohol and drug abuse – forcing repeat offenders to take part in tough treatment programmes or face prison.
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