Jurgen Klopp is well aware of how risky it can be to talk up football teams – even those as good as his own at Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund.

Having experienced heartbreaks as well as triumphs at both clubs, he shocked many this week by boldly claiming that his current squad is the best he’s ever had.

A routine pre-match press conference was given more prominence than a midweek game with Leicester might expect.

Some wondered if it was the first salvo of a psycho war that might panic Pep Guardiola into overthinking.

It’s about the only way Liverpool can catch City in the league, after all.

But that didn’t wash with the UK’s Daily Mail who suggested that he was already building a new team – Liverpool 2.0.

They might not catch City, but time was catching them, the paper reasoned.

By June, no less than seven key players will be past 30.

Whatever the reason, it certainly appeared that the German manager was bigging up his own players.

But, after two years of frustration with Covid and injuries, he was no doubt relieved to have everybody back at Anfield – and in one piece.

Or it may be nothing more than him being honest.

He now has a great squad and one with more depth than even those that won the Champions League and English Premier League.

From this vantage point, his comments look like a bit of all three.

With City having opened a 12-point gap before the Leicester game, it’s almost like Klopp now has a free hit at City whom Liverpool still have to visit in April.

And why not talk up your players? Liverpool are the only team in with a shout of all four competitions, with Chelsea even further long shots in the league.

This week, Klopp was welcoming players back not just from the treatment room and quarantine, but from Africa where three key men had survived the rigours of the Cup of Nations unscathed.

And, besides this trio, it felt like there were two new additions.

The out-of-the-blue signing of Colombia’s Luis Diaz for £50 million was one, but the return of Harvey Elliott also felt like a new acquisition.

The 18-year-old surpassed even the most optimistic comeback forecasts after that horrific ankle injury sustained way back in September.

The way he played and took his goal against Cardiff last weekend suggested he can be every bit as sensational as he was at the start of the season.

And with the 25-year-old Diaz also impressing in his brief FA Cup cameo, the pair did look like a couple of new brooms.

Much was made of how the absence of Sadio Mane and Mo Salah in particular might derail Liverpool’s title tilt.

But six wins in seven games was a pretty emphatic response.

However, of more concern is that both have 30th birthdays coming up and Mane (April) and Salah (June) will be entering the autumn of their careers.

Notwithstanding Salah’s contract negotiations which are still unresolved, they may have to be replaced in the not-too-distant future.

Perhaps even before Klopp’s own deal expires in 2024.

The arrival of Diaz after that of Diogo Jota, 25, who came from Wolves in 2020, suggests that the succession is already under way.

It will be a gradual process and Jota has been dovetailing with both Mane and Bobby Firmino, who was 30 in October.

Other members of the squad to have crossed the dreaded Rubicon are Jordan Henderson (32 in June), James Milner, who turned 36 last month, Virgil van Dijk (30) and Thiago, 30.

The Reds’ pursuit of Fulham’s Fabio Carvalho, 19, is further evidence they recognise the need for new blood and still hope to seal the attacking midfielder’s signature in the summer.

Although born in Lisbon, he comes with the advantage of being homegrown.

For a club as meticulously run as Liverpool, it would be unthinkable for them to allow a side to grow old together and not have battle-ready replacements.

So, by emphasising that he’d never been as well-stocked with players, Klopp is cleverly diverting attention away from the fact that the renovation is ongoing.

He said: “I have never been in this position (fighting on four fronts) at all. It’s the first time in my life because in Germany we have only three competitions — two plus the Champions League.

“This is the strongest squad I have had — there is no doubt about that. And it would be a shame if that wasn’t the case because otherwise, we would have become weaker over the years.

“In the long term it is very important who you have available, in the short term not so much.

“We know at this moment we have a really strong squad and hopefully we can really use that because 11 games in this next period means we play every three days, and that is tough.”

The great fear among Kopites is what happens when Klopp leaves. If he can build a squad that’s capable of continuing the recent success, it will take away a lot of the anxiety.

And leaving his successor with a squad capable of maintaining the standard he has set would cement his already historic legacy.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of FMT.