Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has responded to the transfer spending comments made by his Liverpool counterpart, Jurgen Klopp. Ahead of his side’s season-opening win this weekend, Klopp hit out at the free-spending ways of both Manchester City and Chelsea.
“For some clubs it seems to be less important how uncertain the future is because they are owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, and that is the truth. We are a different kind of club,” the German said.
“We reached the Champions League final two years ago, won it the following year and won the Premier League by being the club we are.โ
The “oligarch” comment refers to Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich while the “country” refers to Manchester City’s ownership, which is controlled by the royal family of Abu Dhabi, the rulers of the United Arab Emirates.
Both clubs have engaged in big summer spending, while the Reds have spent the least, by a wide margin, of the big six. Lampard said he was more amused than annoyed at these comments however.
“I was less annoyed with it [Klopp’s comments], I found it more, slightly amusing I would say,” Lampard said.
“When you talk about the owners of clubs in the Premier League, I do not think it matters what line of business they come from. We are talking about some very wealthy owners.”
“With Liverpool’s story, I think it is a fantastic story of a club over the five years that Jurgen Klopp has been there that they have managed to get recruitment right to a really high level,” he added.
In 2018, Liverpool broke the all-time world transfer fee record for a defender (Virgil van Dijk ยฃ75m from Southampton) in January, and then for a goalkeeper (Alisson from AS Roma for ยฃ67m) in July. Lampard then referenced both players, as well as a host of other expensive footballers acquired by Liverpool, in the remainder of his remarks.
“The reality is that, probably other than Leicester, most clubs that win the Premier League in the modern day have recruited well at quite a high level money-wise,” the second year Blues boss continued.
“You can go through the Liverpool players, Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, [Naby] Keita, [Sadio] Mane, [Mohamed] Salah, incredible players that came at a very high price. But Liverpool have done it over a period of time.”
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Chelsea have spent over 200 million GBP on six new players this summer, and they are reportedly closing in on number seven, Edouard Mendy from Rennes. The Blues host Liverpool in week two of the Premier League season on Sunday night Sept 20.
Paul M. Banks runsย The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now.ย Banks, the author ofย โNo, I Canโt Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,โ regularly appears in WGN,ย Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribuneย and SB Nation. Follow him onย Twitter and Instagram.
