Sunday 22 April 2018 12:20, UK
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says they were "pretty sure" that Golden Boot frontrunner Mohamed Salah would prove a shrewd acquisition.
But Klopp added that the £37m deal - which now looks like an bargain - did carry an element of risk.
The Reds landed Salah from Roma last summer and he has delivered one of the most prolific goalscoring seasons in Liverpool history, with 41 to his name in all competitions.
As Salah prepares to face his former club in Tuesday's Champions League semi-final first leg, Klopp reflected on the price of his summer signing.
"Is it a bargain?" said Klopp. 'I don't know but it's the business.
"Which is the better business, to bring in (full-back) Andy Robertson from Hull for a few million or doing that?
"That's the business part of football. £37m or whatever it was, I'm not sure of the price, it was the market and other teams could have bought him.
"Is it that now he's scored 40 goals, maybe we should pay £50m? You always take the risk that it doesn't work.
"He's a very good player and we hoped, we were pretty sure, it would work out, but we couldn't be 100 per cent sure."
Klopp says Salah's form at Roma was there for all to see though and, not surprisingly, is not interested in discussing how much the forward might fetch if he hit the market now.
"What price Mo now? That's not interesting," said the Liverpool manager.
"He's stepped up to make the next step in his development.
"At Roma, he was really, really good and it's only because England has such a great league that you obviously don't watch other leagues often enough!
"It's clear he was really good at Roma and a very, very offensive midfield player. And he's very cool in front of goal."
