Ahead of their meeting at Anfield on Sunday, Jurgen Klopp insists Liverpool “cannot act like” Man City in the transfer market and says “it’s not possible” to compete with their spending.
After pipping Liverpool to the Premier League title last season, City strengthened their squad with the marquee signing of Erling Haaland in the summer transfer window.
Having already scored 20 goals in 13 games for his new club, reports suggest the striker is earning around £900,000 a week inclusive of bonuses.
Liverpool spent money of their own, breaking their transfer record to secure the signature of Darwin Nunez, with Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay arriving for nominal fees, and Arthur joining on loan.
They were, however, reluctant to spend big on a midfielder, after missing out on first-choice target Aurelien Tchouameni to Real Madrid.
And speaking to reporters on Friday, Klopp responded sharply when asked what Liverpool must do to keep pace with City.
“Oh you don’t like the answer,” he said.
“You will not like the answer about that, and you all have the answer already.
“Nobody can compete with City in that. You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market. No matter what it costs, you just do it.
“City will not like it, nobody will like it, you ask the question but you know the answer.
“We cannot act like them. It’s not possible. Not possible.”
Klopp went on to single out three clubs, presumably City, Newcastle and PSG, who have no restrictions on what they can spend to strengthen their squads.
Liverpool have been very shrewd in the market since the German’s arrival at the club, and the very fact they have managed to compete so closely with Pep Guardiola’s side says everything about the job Klopp has done at Anfield.
The boss went on to explain the difference in how Liverpool conduct their transfer business, while highlighting the fact clubs like Newcastle have “no ceiling” with their finances.
“There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially. It’s legal and everything fine, but they can do what they want,” he continued.
“We have to look at ‘we need this, we need that, we have to look here and make it younger, and here a prospect, and here a talent’. That’s what you have to do.
“It’s not a problem at all for me, it’s like it is. Don’t ask me that question because you always open this discussion and in the end it’s me telling you, but you all know it, you should know.
“It’s not possible to deal with that, and it will be like this.
“I heard now that someone at Newcastle said ‘there’s no ceiling for this club’. Yeah, right! He’s absolutely right, there’s no ceiling for Newcastle.
“Congratulations, some other clubs have ceilings.”
It’s easy to forget how well Klopp has done to build a team that has been competing at the very top of English and European football for several years.
Liverpool haven’t quite reached those standards so far this season, and the question now is whether they can continue to challenge for honours with much more limited resources than some of their rivals.
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