Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp offered a thinly veiled dig at Chelsea’s summer transfer spending, as he referred to Chelsea as a club owned by an oligarch.
According to Klopp, his Liverpool side aren’t like Chelsea, but operate a different model, insisting that they do not rely on making massive signings, but he has built a dominant squad who have won the Premier League and Champions League, without spending much on signings.
Chelsea boss Frank Lampard has laughed off Klopp’s comments as he names some expensive signings that have been carried out by the Reds, with Lampard exempting only Leicester City who have gone on to win the league without making massive signings.
“I was less annoyed with it,” Lampard said over Zoom ahead of his side’s Premier League opener against Brighton on Monday. “I found it slightly amusing because I think when you talk about the owners of clubs, I don’t think it matters what line of business they come from.
“We are talking about some very wealthy owners of clubs in the Premier League. With Liverpool’s story, I referenced it a lot last year. It’s a fantastic story of a club over the four and a half or five years that Jurgen Klopp’s been there where they’ve managed to get recruitment right to a really high level.
“The reality is – other than maybe Leicester, which was an incredible story – most clubs that win the league in the modern day have recruited well and have recruited at quite a high-level money wise. You can go through the Liverpool players – Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, [Sadio] Mane, [Mohamed] Salah.
“Incredible players that came at a very high price. Liverpool have done it over some time. What we have done is come off the back of a ban and probably try to address the situation ourselves to help improve us. It’s par for the course. We all know that.
“There’s no point doing the maths. We know that Liverpool have spent at a high level. We know they have an incredible coach. We know they have incredible players. The really smart thing Liverpool have done is to believe in their coach and believe in their system for a number of years. “It’s a great story but it’s a story where they’ve spent money on players. This summer we’ve spent money on players and now the hard work has to come.
“When you carry on and what I read from Jurgen Klopp was that he said about the idea of bringing in a group of players is not going to be easy for us no matter what the level is and as I mentioned there we are talking about some younger players from different leagues. “I think he was talking with fair context when he said it like that but in terms of the money spent, of course, Liverpool have spent huge amounts in a very good way as well.
“In terms of where we’re at, we have to not focus too much on what other teams, managers, supporters, radio, media say, we have to worry about what we can do on the training pitch as that’s the only thing that will define us so I’m not too concerned. “I’m pleased with the business we’ve done, really pleased. Now I want us to be excited as a team to work hard to get results.”