Jurgen Klopp praises Liverpool's bargain signing of Roberto Firmino

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp believes that the Reds struck upon a bargain when they signed Roberto Firmino for only £29m ($36m) as clubs around them would have paid much more to sign the Brazilian given the form he is in.

The 25-year-old has played brilliantly for the Reds this season and Klopp is looking at him to take over the responsibility in the absence of Philippe Coutinho, who is out with a knee injury.

Firmino has scored five goals and assisted three in 13 league games this season and formed a brilliant relationship with the likes of Sadio Mane and Coutinho, which has led the Reds to the third spot on the table, only four points behind Chelsea. Liverpool signed Firmino in the summer of 2015, days before Klopp took charge, but the German insists that no one from Liverpool had asked him about the forward before making their interest concrete.

"The first thing I did when I left Dortmund, I took my phone and deleted all the numbers so I was not reachable. So I didn't speak to anyone to offer advice, about Firmino or anyone else," Klopp said, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo.

"Nobody asked me about him but he was a player I thought was one of the best in the Bundesliga. So when I saw that Liverpool had signed him I thought: 'How could Liverpool do this?'

"They were not in their 100% best moment and other clubs would have spent more on him so I thought immediately: 'What a good transfer for them'. When I heard about it I thought they had made a good signing because I felt pretty sure clubs would have paid a lot more for him," he said.

The manager was full praise for Liverpool's scouting network after they completed a deal for Firmino and insisted that other clubs can take inspiration from how they have managed to sign such superstars without spending an insane amount of money.