Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool would like a busy January with Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota out injured

Jurgen Klopp has admitted he’d like Liverpool to be busy in the January transfer window following calls from former player Jamie Carragher that the club need a £250million investment to close the gap on Manchester City.

While refusing to comment on how much the club would ideally spend, Klopp didn’t hide the fact that he’d enjoy seeing new arrivals particularly with key forwards Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz injured.

Current owner John W Henry has publicly acknowledged the club is open to new investors or even an outright sale.

He is missing some key players through injury, including Portuguese forward Diogo Jota

‘I am not against investment to be honest, it is clear, but we will see what the future brings,’ said Klopp. ‘In our situation, we always say we are prepared from a sports side. It is clear the ideas we have and the necessity but all the rest is not 100 per cent in our hands. You can imagine the situation we are in, we are probably looking. If something happens, we will see.

‘I don’t know about the amount of money. At the moment we have to sort the situation, nothing to do with investors or whatever. We have to sort out the present and that is what we are working on.

Liverpool were beaten 3-2 in the EFL Cup by Manchester City on Thursday and next face Aston Villa on Boxing Day. James Milner is a major doubt after limping off at The Etihad but Klopp is hopeful Trent Alexander-Arnold will have recovered from a virus. Ibrahima Konate returns to training on December 27 after reaching the World Cup final with France.

Luis Diaz is also out injured after he suffered another knee injury in training earlier this month

Klopp would like to see the Reds strengthen their attack to reduce the workload of Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino (left and right) with their fellow frontmen out injured

Klopp is excited about returning the league action and confident his team can close the gap on the top four. ‘All the players look really on it,’ he said. ‘We consider ourselves within punching distance and we have to chase.

‘There were things I didn’t like against City, our counter-press was non-existent, but we found a way back into the game and I am an optmistic person. Our spell before the break was absolutely OK and there is a lot to come. Some of the players have rhythm from the World Cup like Jordan Henderson, Alisson and Virgil van Dijk. For the others, it is another start.’

Villa’s main threat could be former Liverpool striker Danny Ings who was sold by Klopp to Southampton.

‘The only reason he didn’t make it here was injuries,’ said the Liverpool manager. ‘He wanted to play and we couldn’t offer that. His quality was never in doubt and he has shown it a Southampton and now Villa. They have other good strikers.’