WAD A CHEEK
Lampard hits back at Klopp’s jibe at moneybags Chelsea..and says: Kop have spent big too.. Van Dijk, Alisson, Salah..they all came at a high price
FRANK LAMPARD has laughed off Jurgen Klopp’s moneybags jibe at Chelsea by pointing out how Liverpool have been spending big for years.
Klopp sparked a backlash among Blues fans by claiming his club could not “behave like Chelsea”, who are enjoying their biggest transfer window ever.
He also took a swipe at rivals “owned by countries, owned by oligarchs” in a clear reference to the Londoners and to Manchester City.
Asked if he could see why Blues fans were annoyed by those comments, Lampard said: “Maybe. I was less annoyed with it.
“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. Liverpool have spent huge amounts and have bought very good players as well.
“The reality is most clubs that win the league have recruited well and at quite a high level money-wise. You can go through the Liverpool players – Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Mane, Salah.
“Incredible players that came at a very high price. Liverpool have done it over a period of time. What we have done is come off the back of a ban.
“I mentioned the transfer ban quite a lot last year. Maybe I felt that was some of the reason we were 30 points behind the top two teams.” Rennes goalkeeper Edouard Mendy is set to become Chelsea’s eighth summer signing, taking their spending to more than £230million.
Lampard now has an embarrassment of riches to call on as he prepares to face Brighton tonight.
But he believes it is too early to compare this squad with the ones he graced as a player when
Chelsea ruled the roost. And he insists getting the likes of Timo Werner ( left), Kai Havertz (right), Hakim Ziyech and Thiago
Silva to gel and be successful may be harder than it looks.
Lampard said: “It’s not going to be easy. If it was a computer game, then you would feel like a kid in a candy story because everything would just work, but in real life it doesn’t. This is a pretty y fresh squad, when you think about the players we’ve brought in, when you think about the youth that remains from last year.
“And when you look back at some of the squads here, I’m certainly not going to make a di rec t comparison.
“There were some very experienced and high-level squads.
“So it’s exciting for this squad to make their own mark. That’s how it feels. It needs to feel like that for us.
“We want to be challenging, to close the gap on the top two teams that are above us.
“So it’s the start of the road for us and not time to comment on comparisons.”
BRIGHTON: Ryan, Lamptey, Dunk, Veltman, Burn, Bissouma, Lallana, Stephens, March, Maupay, Connolly CHELSEA: Kepa, James, Rudiger, Christensen, Alonso, Kante, Jorginho, Mount, Havertz, Werner, Hudson-Odoi REFEREE: Craig Pawson
TV: Live on Sky Sports, kick-off 8.15pm