Jürgen Klopp has credited Liverpool’s scouting department with securing a cut-price deal for Roberto Firmino when they signed him for £29 million from Hoffenheim.

Firmino was the second most expensive signing in Liverpool’s history at the time of his move.

Klopp was on sabbatical when Firmino joined Liverpool in the summer of 2015 and has said no club consulted him over the Brazilian. Klopp expected Firmino to command a much higher transfer fee.

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