LONDON: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp welcomed the appointment of Michael Edwards as the club's sporting director on Friday, but said he would still have final say on transfers.

The 37-year-old Edwards, who joined Liverpool from Tottenham Hotspur in 2011, was promoted to the newly created role having previously served as head of analytics, director of technical performance and technical director.

He will now play a part in player identification, acquisitions, sales and retention, but Klopp said ultimate responsibility for transfers would continue to rest with the manager.

"We will work like we did in the past," the German told a news conference ahead of Sunday's visit of Watford in the Premier League.

"From my point of view it's the natural thing. Transfers are going always the same way.

"Whoever brings the player, if it's me or my assistant, then we have a lot of things to watch, to talk about and in the end I have the final say. That's the most important thing for you to know."

Klopp insisted that striker Danny Ings had a future at the club despite his latest injury setback.

The 24-year-old, who missed most of last season with a ruptured cruciate ligament, is out for the rest of this campaign with another serious knee injury.

"The only problem Danny Ings has had was he had a really bad injury and he needed time to come back in shape. The last two weeks everybody could see 'okay, now he is back' and then this happened," Klopp said.

"That's not nice, but it's part of football. And from yesterday on, it's already a positive story because the surgery was positive, and rehab started already. Danny will be back and will be a Liverpool player 100 percent."

Klopp revealed that Emre Can and Georginio Wijnaldum had been sent home from training after picking up a bug, but he will have James Milner back in the squad for the visit of seventh-placed Watford, who are unbeaten in four league games.

"Watford have changed manager, system and players," he added, praising Walter Mazzarri's impact since taking over.

"They have conceded zero goals in their last three games. We'll figure out what we have to do. It's Anfield, and (we need) a positive result before the international break."

Liverpool are third in the standings, level on points with leaders Manchester City and second-placed Arsenal.