UNITED Reds boss right to question big spender Klopp
WHEN Paul Pogba returned to United for £89.3m in 2016, Jurgen Klopp relished the opportunity to fire a dig at Old Trafford from his financial high horse.
The Liverpool boss, still relatively fresh from his impressive exploits at Borussia Dortmund, considered himself the messiah of success-on-abudget and was convinced smashing world record transfer fees was something he would never need to do at Anfield.
“Other clubs can spend big money on top players,” Klopp said of United manager Jose Mourinho’s outlay on Pogba. “I want to do it differently. I would do it differently, even if I could spend that money.”
Two years on, though, the German has spent the most money in the history of football on both a goalkeeper and a defender to signal quite the U-turn.
“I’ll do whatever it takes to make Liverpool successful,” Klopp said during Liverpool’s pre-season tour. “I couldn’t have imagined since then that the world would change like it has.
“Two years ago £100m was a crazy number. Since then the world has changed completely.”
It seems quite ludicrous to suggest that Mourinho - having fielded such disdain from Klopp two years ago should refrain from questioning Liverpool’s newly-found extravagance in the transfer market.
And the Portuguese was right to do so after United’s 1-0 defeat against Bayern Munich on Sunday evening when he said: “The other clubs who compete with us are really strong and already have fantastic teams. Or they are investing massively like Liverpool, who are buying everything and everybody.”
It seems Klopp has come to terms with the fact success in England Leicester City’s Premier League success apart - strongly correlates with a willingness to pay the big bucks.
Liverpool have spent £170m this summer in recruiting Naby Keita, Fabinho, Alisson and Xherdan Shaqriri after shelling out £154m last season.
And Mourinho wittingly referenced his counterpart’s seeming acceptance earlier this summer.
“I’m also happy to smile and to see that you can change your opinion,” he said. “Maybe this season, finally you demand that they win.
“You have to be fair and now you have to demand and say the team with investments you are making last season, that you made in January, that you make now, a team that was a finalist in the Champions League, you have to say you are a big candidate and you have to win.”