Jürgen Klopp says he doesn't mind Alex Teixeira's move to China despite Liverpool's chase of the Brazilian throughout the January transfer window.
The Shakhtar Donetsk attacker has agreed to join Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning after they paid out the heavy fee the Ukrainian outfit demanded for the forward, and many wondered how Klopp would feel about this.
Heavy Liverpool link initially
Teixeira had been heavily linked with Liverpool in previous weeks, even stating his desire to play in the Premier League and it was widely thought that the problem lay with Shakhtar refusing to sell, holding out for more money and using the excuse of wanting the player to stay until the summer to help them in domestic competitions in Ukraine.
Liverpool pulled out of negotiations eventually due to Shakhtar's high demands, asking for around £38 million after the Reds' bid of £24.5 million, and Klopp said he fully agreed with this earlier in the week.
Chinese League's financial reputation growing
Teixeira's move to China is just another story in a rising number of others who have made the move to Asian football. This week, Jackson Martinez has sealed a move to Guangzhou Evergrande to join players such as Robinho, Paulinho and Tim Cahill in a league beginning to attract some of the world's best through its financial incentives.
Klopp has "no problem" with Teixeira choosing China
When reporters put the question to the German about Teixeira's sudden move earlier on Friday, in the German's pre-Sunderland press conference, he stated that "we should respect we can all make our own decisions" and although all the talk is about the financial power of England "maybe it's another competitor, maybe it's China."
Klopp showed that he is a manager who is non-judgemental and respects everyone's decisions and thoughts, when he appeared to find some understanding of Teixeira's reasons for the move. He said that "if you are 26 and you get an offer like he got—everybody would think about it!", adding that there are "a few problems less" for the rest of his family in the years ahead, obviously referring to the money situation.
He described the situation as "absolutely normal" and this perspective says a lot about him as a manager. He doesn't believe in players being classified based on the decisions they make and believes that we would all think about it strongly if we were in Texeira's position.
What now for Liverpool?
With Divock Origi, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge all returning from injury at once Klopp, has described them as "our transfers." It's presumed Klopp will still bring in a couple of players in the summer and is obviously content to wait for players of better value than Teixeira.
Although the decsion to move to China after expressing his hopes of making the Brazil squad for the Copa America don't really paint a great picture of the player, Klopp may be happy deep down that he didn't fork out a club record fee on the player - who has yet to be capped for his country.