JURGEN KLOPP took a dig at Manchester City and Chelsea’s spending as he swiped at rivals “owned by oligarchs and countries”.
The Liverpool boss saw his side miss out on the £48million signing of Timo Werner who joined the Blues.
Jurgen Klopp hit out at Chelsea and Manchester City over their big spending and powerful ownersCredit: PA:Press Association
And with both Premier League rivals splashing the cash in the summer transfer window, he could not resist the cheeky swipe.
Chelsea are bankrolled by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich while City’s owner Sheikh Mansour is part of the Emirati government and royal family.
Klopp told BBC Radio 5Live: “We live in a world at the moment with a lot of uncertainty.
“For some clubs it seems less important how uncertain the future is. Owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, that’s the truth. We are a different kind of club.
“We got to the Champions League final two years ago, we won it last year. We became Premier League champions last season by being the club we are.
“We cannot change it overnight and say, ‘Now we want to behave like Chelsea.’
“They are signing a lot of players. That can be an advantage, but that means they have to fit together.
“You cannot bring in the 11 best players in the world and just hope a week later they play the best football.
Lampard has spent £230m of Roman Abramovich’s money to recruit impressively this summerCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Manchester City’s funding comes from the Emirati state with owner Sheikh Mansour in chargeCredit: Getty Images – Getty
“It’s about working on the training ground. That will probably be an advantage for us. We’ve worked quite a while with each other.”
The Reds have made just one signing in the summer transfer window so far, bringing in Greek left-back Kostas Tsimikas for £11.75million.
However, Chelsea wasted no time to spend big with Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner, Ben Chilwell, Kai Havertz all arriving for £230m – plus Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr joined as free agents.
Klopp also was involved in a touchline spat with Frank Lampard in July.
The Blues boss repeatedly swore at Klopp and his “arrogant” backroom staff, at one point telling the German to “f*** off” and “sit down”.
City, meanwhile, brought in Ferran Torres to replace Leroy Sane and paid Bournemouth £40m for Nathan Ake with another centre-back high on Pep Guardiola’s wish list.
The Etihad club were also lining up a stunning offer for Lionel Messi before his U-turn to stay at Barcelona for another year.
Klopp is not the only rival Premier League manager to take a pop at City’s spending with Jose Mourinho joking Messi would only join a club “who doesn’t respect Financial Fair Play”.
Chelsea have been very active in the transfer market this summer and have ridiculous strength in depth
Embarrassed Frank Lampard admits he ‘regrets’ Klopp ‘f*** off’ row at Liverpool and Chelsea boss plans to apologise
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
