The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Klopp’ s cash blues
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admits he cannot explain Chelsea’s unprecedented “impressive” spending.
The Blues have spent over £400 million since the consortium headed by billionaire Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over in the summer, with £140m of that outlay coming in the last 15 days with potentially more expected before the end of the month.
That is a lot more than Liverpool, who after buying Benfica forward Darwin Nunez for an initial £64m – which could rise to a club-record £85m with add-ons – and youngsters Fabio Carvalho (from Fulham for £5m) and Calvin Ramsay (from Aberdeen for £6.5m), have added £38m PSV Eindhoven forward Cody Gakpo as their likely only January transfer.
On whether Chelsea’s spending made the challenge for the Premier League top four more difficult, Klopp, who celebrates his 1,000th match as a manager on Saturday, said: “Maybe. It may get probably even worse or better, I don’t know exactly how you want to say it.
“Interesting (the spending). I cannot explain it, I have no idea. But if the numbers are true then it’s impressive.”
Liverpool owners Fenway
Sports Group put the club up for sale late last year but appear to be now deviating away from that and looking for additional investors to buy a part-share.
But that means Klopp’s next tranche of transfer money, which the American-based group has always tried to manage responsibly, is likely to be available in the summer as the club chase Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.
Asked whether Chelsea’s
spending was a concern, Klopp added: “I don’t think Chelsea can do this in the same manner for the next 10 years. I don’t know – maybe they can.
“Other teams will have ups and downs and we just have to be there. I can’t see investment stopping in the future and that means we have to do it as well.”
But with this match representing only the halfway point in Liverpool’s season, and with the club 10 points off fourth-placed
Newcastle with a match in hand, Klopp remains optimistic of a change in fortunes.
“We are here in a good position. I know that sounds strange because we didn’t play our best football but in general we are in good hands,” he said.
“So we don’t get crazy or whatever. We really know about the responsibility we have and we really try absolutely everything to try to bring us back on track and not worry too much.”