Jurgen Klopp pledges to consider improving Liverpool squad in January transfer window

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp is content with the resources available to him but has pledged to assess his options in the January transfer window. The Reds will play in their third competition of the season against Leicester City in the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night (19 September), when the German will call upon peripheral first-team squad members and academy players.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will make his full debut for the Merseysiders, while Marko Grujic and Danny Ward are also in line for their first starts of the season. Wales international Ben Woodburn, long-term injury victim Danny Ings and defender Jon Flanagan are also in contention for the eight-time winners, who reached the semi-finals last season only to lose to eventual runners-up Southampton.

A poor start to Liverpool's Premier League and Champions League campaigns means Klopp is unable to commit his big-name players to English football's second-tier cup competition.

Just four new players arrived in the summer transfer window, but the ex-Borussia Dortmund boss has not ruled out further additions.

"From today's perspective yes, we have the resources, but we will see how it is again in January," said Klopp, who guided Liverpool to the EFL Cup final in his first season, according to Goal.com.

"What is my alternative - go to Leicester [in the League Cup on Tuesday] with a white flag and tell them if they want to go to the semi-finals in January then do it because we don't want to be part of it? We have had a few different line-ups and everything has been good in this competition in the last few years when we went to the final and semi-final.

"At one point we didn't have the opportunity to line up with the strongest side and a lot of England legends said I didn't respect the cup competitions, which is obviously not so nice. But in this moment we have the squad to play in different competitions and to go as far as possible. That is the plan.

"The competition is good. The final [against Manchester City] was good when we played there. The semi-final against Southampton last year was for us the wrong possible moment, that's true, but we couldn't change that. We will see how we are in January but at this moment I feel quite comfortable to use the players and bring players into different games."

If Klopp does indeed have ambitions of growing his squad, he will not be in a position to use them in the Carabao Cup until the semi-final stage which begins in January. Klopp has a decent cup record since arriving at Liverpool in October 2015, reaching two finals. However, he has only won a single FA Cup tie in his two campaigns at the helm.