Chelsea boss Graham Potter has stated that he won't "worry too much" about external opinions of the club's recent transfer activity after Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola were asked for their judgement.
The Blues broke the British transfer record on January's deadline day, sending £106 million Benfica's way in exchange for 22-year-old World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez. This took the club's spending to £323 million in the January window alone, and around £600 million since Todd Boehly took ownership last spring.
As expected, the wider footballing world has had something to say about it. The managers of two of Chelsea's main title rivals in recent years were asked for their thoughts, each with different responses.
"I say nothing without my lawyer," Klopp started off jokingly, though went on to say: It's a big number in the last few windows. The players they brought in, I didn't think once 'why did they do that'. They're all really good players so from that point of view congratulations when you can do it. I don't understand how it's possible with all the things around but it's obviously not [for me] to explain how it works."
READ MORE: Mudryk and Enzo Fernandez in, Pulisic starts - Chelsea's most expensive XI possible
Meanwhile, Guardiola was quizzical over what the general reaction would be if his club were to emulate Chelsea's strategy, though keen not to be drawn into a rival's affairs.
"None of my business," he said. "I know what would happen [if Manchester City spent that much]. What they do is not my business. There are regulations, I don't forget, eight or nine teams send a letter [for City] to be banned [from the Champions League]. We are the fifth team in net spend."
Potter, though, was quick to set the record straight.
“It’s normal because we’ve spent the money we’ve spent. The media aren’t going to let that go under the radar, so all of football will be singing that song, that’s for sure.
"Everybody's entitled to their opinion. It’s a free world, it’s free speech, which is good. [Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola] are entitled to their opinion. I don’t worry too much about that. They’ve got their right to speak, and that’s fair enough.”
“January is very complicated,” Potter added. “As I’ve said before, you’d want things to be more optimal. At the same time, we know the situation we’re in, we know the transition period that we’re in, so it’s always going to be a case of managing in challenging circumstances. I'm certainly not complaining, it's exciting. It'll test me, it’ll test my attributes and my quality, and that’s something to be happy for. You see the profile of the players that we brought in."
READ NEXT:
What Thiago Silva demanded from Enzo Fernandez as Chelsea transfer mistake highlighted vs Fulham
Chelsea Graham Potter theory emerges after former Bayern Munich boss spotted at Stamford Bridge
Noni Madueke fulfills Chelsea promise as debut vs Fulham poses Graham Potter new £35m problem
Graham Potter already knows next Chelsea transfer plan and makes Romelu Lukaku point
Jose Mourinho tells 'next Didier Drogba' how to complete Chelsea transfer as £45m deal eyed
