Mane’s extension sign of good things to come – klopp 

Jürgen Klopp, the Liverpool manager, has said the days of the club acting as a stepping-stone for star players planning the ‘next step’ of their career elsewhere is over.
Klopp suggested Sadio Mané’s decision to commit his future to Anfield until 2023 – which follows the same deals for Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah – is a statement on the club’s reinvigoration.
The Anfield talent drain has been demoralising over the last 10 years as Xabi Alonso, Fernando Torres, Luis Suárez, Raheem Sterling and most recently Philippe Coutinho all felt their ambitions best served elsewhere.
Klopp admitted it was impossible to predict what massive bids might materialise for his players in future, but said Liverpool are better equipped to resist predators. More importantly, he thinks his best players believe they can achieve their career goals on Merseyside.
“If a player is in a very good moment in his career and you can extend the contract, it’s more than just a signing, it’s a statement. I’m happy about that,” said Klopp.
“It shows a bit of the change the club made in the last few years. A few years ago it constantly happened that players in a very good moment thought they had to leave the club to make the next step. Now our boys obviously think they can make the next step here. That’s good.
“It’s a statement for us in the situation. We all know that these players could earn a lot of money at a lot of clubs around the world. It’s not about that. It’s about do they think they are in this moment at the right club. It’s obvious that they think that so that is good.”
Klopp says it is much tougher for rivals to sign his players even if they wanted to. “In this moment? Yes. And we have to make sure it stays like this,” he said. “If you aren’t in that situation, you have to try to come in that situation where players don’t want to leave.
“Now we’re in a situation where players don’t want to leave we need to perform constantly at our highest level – that’s the next challenge.”
Cynics will note how Coutinho and Suárez departed Anfield within a year of penning new long-term deals.
Klopp say Barcelona had a particular lure, but with Liverpool inserting a clause in the deal agreeing Coutinho’s sale – La Liga champions would have to pay another £89 million on top of any transfer fee if they made bids before 2020 – they will not be hovering anytime soon. Even in that instance, Klopp said it needed an extraordinary fee to force a Liverpool sale
“In that [Coutinho] situation each club in the world could have asked, but it was Barcelona,” said Klopp. “I don’t ask players: ‘Is there one club that would make you forget everything?’
“For Phil it was Barcelona. We didn’t know about that. I’m not sure even Phil knew before they called. It was not a normal situation and in the end they had to pay quite an amount of money to get him. All good for both sides.
“If someone comes and offers us £500 million or whatever, what? Would I think it’s possible? No. But I was wrong on that a few times before.”