Jurgen Klopp has doubled down on his stance regarding Liverpool's lack of spending power despite arrival of Dutch prospect Cody Gakpo. The German coach says his side cannot just splash the cash after the Reds moved quickly to secure the signature of the PSV forward, to take their investment to £137million since the start of the season.
Liverpool have continued to spend, despite Klopp's claims they could not compete with Manchester City and Newcastle's newfound spending power back in October. The former Borussia Dortmund boss picked up on sporting director Dan Ashworth's interview to congratulate the Magpies for having 'no ceiling'.
Despite accumulating £80.7 million from player sales in the summer, Klopp's side have spent more than they've accumulated from player sales each season since the start of the 2020/21 campaign. His no ceiling comment drew a rare rebuttal from Eddie Howe himself, with the head coach usually avoiding public disagreements with his rival counterparts.
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Howe explained the financial 'reality' was not how it has often been portrayed, and warned 'everyone' to be careful with their accusations as a result. Liverpool's recent investment only raises further questions over Klopp's previous comments.
However, the Reds boss is adamant his side cannot start splashing the cash. He said: "I am now here seven years and it is every window is pretty much the same; we talk about these things as though money didn't play a role.
"It is never like this. We sign an outstanding player like Cody Gakpo and then you read about the next player. We cannot play like Monopoly. Of course we cannot just spend and never could.
"It is a big part of my philosophy, working full of faith and trust with the players we have and not constantly telling them we need another player in the position. It is clear that you need real quality in all positions and two teams with the same level that you can rotate but people are surprised when we say we cannot start splashing the cash.
"If there is something we can do and that means right player and financial situation, we will do it."
Newcastle themselves have had to move players on in order to improve their squad, but Howe has also done an impeccable job at improving players that were already at the club. The new owners on Tyneside have reiterated there's no open cheque for the Magpies to play with, given the need to comply with Financial Fair Play.
Despite his earlier comments, Klopp refused to comment on whether Liverpool needed to sell players to continue investing. He added: "That is a different situation, I don't know. Nobody came to me and asked to leave the club, if that should be the case then I would listen but nobody came yet."
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