Jurgen Klopp says unvaccinated players pose a health risk and he would be dissuaded from signing anyone who refuses to be jabbed.

Klopp was previously noncommittal when asked if Liverpool’s transfer policy would be influenced by the vaccination status of targets.

But ahead of today’s trip to Tottenham Hotspur, the German coach said upon further consideration it was likely Liverpool and other clubs would refuse deals for players who chose not to protect them-selves, staff and team-mates from becoming seriously ill with Covid-19.

“Yes, it will be influential. Definitely,” Klopp said. “I was asked about this in previous press conferences and I did not really think about it because I don’t know when we will sign a player. But since then, I did think about it. In a situation like this, if a player is not vaccinated at all he is a constant threat for all of us. He does not want to be a threat, of course. It is not that he thinks, ‘I don’t care about the others’. But he is and we have to find different scenarios.

“He would have to change in a different dressing room, eat in a different dining room and sit on a dif-ferent bus and drive in a different car. From an organisation point of view, that is a real mess.

“If you really want to follow the protocols, it is really difficult to do it. If one [player] gets Covid, and others are around him, they are in isolation. So of course it will be influential. We are not going to cre-ate a building for unvaccinated players. Hopefully it will not be necessary.”

Having said earlier in the week that footballers - like everyone else in the community - had a “moral obligation” to get jabbed, Klopp raised further concerns about the varying vaccination rates across the game.

Liverpool face Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup third round next month, and Klopp believes his players and staff have a right to know when they are in closer proximity to unvaccinated individuals, and whether an opponent is applying the same stringent policies to protect others from infection.

That applies in the Premier League too - Klopp has said there should be more transparency around cases - but the number of English Football League players stating they will never get vaccinated is a startling 25 per cent.

“We had that last year with some away games,” Klopp said. “I do not know 100 per cent, but I do not think a lot has changed since then. You go there to an FA Cup away game, change in really small dress-ing rooms and it does not feel 100 per cent thought through.

“At least this time we are at home, so that’s fine. Playing outside is fine too, of course. But we have to constantly think about other things besides football. I am not concerned we cannot play them [Shrewsbury]. We are playing at home. But for the others who play away it needs to be sorted. It is a general problem.

“That’s why the question is not really about whether we stop the league or carry on as usual, it is about the things in between we have to sort out. This is one of the things.”

Liverpool have confirmed that 100 per cent of their players have been double vaccinated, with the majority having already received or scheduled to receive their booster when eligible.