Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has insisted that the club want to bring in new recruits this month, but are finding it "difficult" to get deals over the line.
Questions have been raised over the Reds' lack of business in this window after their Premier League title race was hampered at the weekend.
The Merseyside outfit are now 10 points adrift of leaders Chelsea following a 3-2 defeat to relegation battlers Swansea City at Anfield.
Klopp has claimed that Liverpool are keen to make new additions before the window closes next week, but has suggested that there will be little in the way of transfers.
"I understand it is absolutely normal for people ask whether we should have brought players in," Klopp told reporters. "It is not that we don't want to bring players in - we do. The situation is yes, on the one side it is pretty simple, but on the other hand it is pretty difficult.
"The thing is, the players we want because we think they help us, the clubs don't sell. It is not about money in this situation, it is the [January] transfer window. Clubs are saying, 'No we have half a year to go. We cannot find another player like this. We prefer to take money in the summer than a few pounds more in [January]'.
"If the right decision is not possible in signing the right player, then you cannot make the wrong transfer. It is not as if there are 20 players out there who could make this team stronger, who are running around and are available. That is why I say we know the situation, we are prepared to move, but for the right player. We are not the only side who can decide the outcome of that though, eh? The selling club makes the decision too."
Liverpool will turn their attention to the EFL Cup semi-finals this week when they face Southampton, who have a 1-0 advantage from the first leg.
