YOU HYPOCRITE
Jose’s jibe at Klopp over £75m Van Dijk fee
JOSE MOURINHO yesterday accused Jurgen Klopp of hypocrisy over Liverpool’s £ 75million signing of Virgil van Dijk.
When Manchester United were pursuing a world record £89m deal for Paul Pogba last year, Klopp claimed he would rather walk away from football than pay so much for a player.
Mourinho believes the Anfield boss has contradicted himself by agreeing to make Van Dijk the most expensive defender in history when he joins Liverpool from Southampton next week.
‘The one to speak about it in a specific way has to be Jurgen,’ said Mourinho. ‘If I was one of you, I would ask him about his comments about one year ago.
‘This was the feeling that Jurgen had when he arrived at Liverpool. He trusted a lot his quality as a good coach, which he is. He trusted a lot his work.
‘Now he realises that is not enough. To be the champion, to win the Champions League, to win trophies, he needs more.
‘With Naby Keita (from RB Leipzig) that they already did for next summer, and Virgil van
Dijk, who can also play in the Champions League, Liverpool realise they have to go to the crazy levels of the market.’
Mourinho realises it, too, and has warned he will struggle to close the gap on Manchester City without the spending power of great rival Pep Guardiola.
With City 15 points ahead and racing away in the title race, Mourinho pointed to the £175m they have spent on two goalkeepers and three full-backs as an example of Guardiola’s advantage.
‘Pep arrived, he had the goalkeeper of England (Joe Hart) and he doesn’t like him,’ said the United manager. ‘He buys the goalkeeper of Barcelona (Claudio Bravo), he doesn’t like him. He buys another one (Ederson) and now he likes him.
‘He had (Pablo) Zabaleta and (Aleksandar) Kolarov, two very good players but more than 30 years old. He doesn’t replace with two, he replaces with three. One from Tottenham (Kyle Walker), one from Monaco (Benjamin Mendy), one from Real Madrid (Danilo), as an example.
‘Can we buy six or seven players at the same time? Can we invest £600-£700m? No, so it’s difficult.
‘In my first period at Chelsea everyone was saying money was making the difference. I don’t think it’s changed. Money makes a difference.’
Mourinho acknowledged that he has been backed by United to the tune of £300m that includes £89m spent on Paul Pogba and £75m on Romelu Lukaku.
He was also at pains to point out he is not being critical of the Old Trafford board. However, these appear to be the first signs of discord between the Portuguese and his employers.
The 54-year-old is believed to be unsure about United’s ambition to get back to the top of English football as they struggle to keep pace with City on every level.
He added: ‘It wouldn’t be very fair of me to say the club didn’t support, didn’t want to help, doesn’t want to win. The club invested a lot of money. The problem is not the money we invest, the problem is the money the others invest.
‘It’s the problem that others with better squads, with better stability, with more options, they keep investing. You think the club can buy six players for £100m each? I cannot expect the club to do that, so it’s not criticism.
‘You can see how the market is with the top teams. The market is going in such a direction or you belong to one of the clubs where there is no limit and you buy what you want. We bought a striker in the summer (Lukaku). But that good striker was to replace Zlatan (Ibrahimovic). We signed Victor Lindelof, we didn’t have Marcos Rojo. So when we are signing players, it’s to replace people. If next summer we are going to sign a midfield player, it will be to replace Michael Carrick. So to improve our squad in midfield, we would need to buy two.’
Mourinho believes United will still be able to challenge without huge investment, but admits it will take him longer to do it. ‘Yes, it’s possible,’ he said. ‘Sometimes if you don’t have that profile of club where there are no limits, and the only thing that matters is to get the best, even with that there is only one way which is patience and calm and time.’
Mourinho claimed yesterday he is unlikely to make any signings next month. However, Sportsmail can reveal he will have close to £100m to spend — but only if he can offload Henrikh Mkhitaryan for around £35m and Matteo Darmian for around £18m.
He will only have £40m to spend in cash without any sales.
The players on the right are seven of his targets as United look for a full back, midfielder and winger.
Meanwhile, United face Southampton at Old Trafford this evening with Mourinho admitting he cannot rest Lukaku even though the exhausted striker has been criticised after scoring just four goals in his last 19 games.
‘ The boy is tired,’ said the United boss. ‘Physically he’s a monster, but he’s not a machine and he’s feeling it.’ Additional reporting: SIMON JONES TV: LIVE BT Sport 1 from 5pm, Manchester Utd v Southampton (KO 5.30)