Lampard hits back at Klopp over Chelsea spending jibe
Frank Lampard has defended Chelsea’s recent spending and hit back at criticism from Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp.
The German said last week that Liverpool were unable to compete with Chelsea’s spending – which has tipped over £200m – because they were ‘not owned by countries or oligarchs’, and suggested it would take more than transfers to become title contenders.
But Lampard thinks Klopp’s comments were hypocritical, pointing to the Reds spending large money on the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho and Naby Keita in the past three years.
Asked about Klopp’s comments, Lampard said: “I was less annoyed with it, I found it more, slightly amusing I would say. 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.
“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. You can go through the Liverpool players, Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Mane, Salah, incredible players that came at a very high price. But Liverpool have done it over a period of time.
“What we have done is come off the back of a ban, probably tried to address the situation ourselves to help improve us, but I think it is par for the course.
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“There is no point in doing the maths too much with it, we all know Liverpool have spent at a high level. They have spent huge amounts.
“We know they have an incredible coach, incredible players and the smart thing that Liverpool have done is believe in their coach and their system for a number of years. It is a great story but it is a story that has spent money on players.”