Jurgen Klopp insists comments made by his agent that suggested he was contemplating his Liverpool future because of the British weather were merely “a joke”.

The German is committed to the Anfield club until 2022 but Marc Kosicke hinted his client could decide against signing a new contract, in part due to the inclement climate in the north west.

Klopp, though, moved to clarify the remarks as he said on the eve of his side’s Champions League opener against Napoli: “He wanted to make a joke.

“Now I have to be serious otherwise I could make a lot of jokes about the weather! It was obviously German humour and nobody got it.

“The weather was never a reason for me to choose a city. The weather in Liverpool is not always nice but, especially between March and September or October, it’s nicer than you would imagine.

“He’s not only my agent but he’s my friend and friends can of course say what they want, and he did that, and nobody got his joke so that’s how it is.”