Klopp admits concerns over Newcastle takeover and compares it to European Super League

Last week, the Saudi Public Investment Fund [PIF] acquired an 80 per cent stake in the club, with Amanda Staveley's PCP Capital Partners and RB Sports & Media handing over £305million in exchange for the keys at St James' Park.

Klopp admitted he didn't think it was right that another football club is now by an entire nation - especially in light of Saudi Arabia's human rights record.

And despite conceding the Magpies will become a 'superpower', Klopp said he is 'not worried' about the threat Newcastle could pose in the future.

During a tetchy press conference on Friday ahead of Liverpool's lunchtime Premier League clash at Watford - LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on talkSPORT - Klopp said:

"I was waiting for some official statement from [Premier League CEO] Richard Masters or somebody else.

"As we all know, there are obviously concerns about human rights issues. That's clear and I think we all feel the same there.

"[But] it didn't happen in the first place and it didn't happen then and, still, that's the situation.

"What will it mean for football? A few months ago we had a massive issue with 12 clubs trying to build a Super League, and rightly so it didn't happen, but this is creating a new super team and it's pretty much the same.

"Guaranteed spots in the Champions League in a few year's time, and with how Financial Fair Play is used nowadays, when nobody knows exactly if it's still existing or not…

"Newcastle fans will love it, of course, but for the rest it just means there's a new superpower in Newcastle.

"Money can't buy everything,but over time they will have enough money to make some wrong decisions and then make right decisions, and then they will be where they want to be.

"The Premier League obviously thought 'let's give it a go'. I don't know it, but it's not the first time, they are now the third club owned by a country."

Klopp believes that the dominance that the Magpies could now pose is now 'immense', but says the decisions made behind the scenes will be 'more important' than the cash they can splash.

"This is the third club in world football that I know of that belongs to a country and that obviously belongs to the wealthiest family on the planet," added the Liverpool boss when later asked again about the takeover.

"The possibilities that open up are of course immense. It's basically like the Super League now - just for one club.

"But much more important than money is good decisions. We won the Champions League two years ago and there were already these two clubs involved that are owned by countries, and with brilliant teams.

"Football is a wonderful game where you can still win games even when the financial power of the opponent is much bigger than your own.

"Honestly, I'm really not concerned about it, I just described the situation.

"But, you all know it, it will not happen overnight and Newcastle are not even safe in the league this year. It's not 100 per cent sure they will stay in the league and that [relegation] would slow down the process a little bit, for sure.

"But I think there will be a lot of changes over the new few years, it's massive project, and it's clear in five, six or seven years time Newcastle - if the owners are patient enough - will be a new superpower, or an old superpower returned because they were very successful in the past.

"The new owners of Newcastle have enough money to buy the whole league, so maybe they fancy that at one point and it opens up again the same chance for everybody… we will see."