Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been paid the ultimate compliment ahead of the new season by Arsenal transfer chief Edu.
The Gunners have been hard at work in the market this summer as they aim to build on last season’s fifth-placed finish. They have welcomed five new faces to the club with a total outlay of approximately £120m, with Gabriel Jesus, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fabio Vieira among the headline arrivals in north London.
It is another summer that has seen Arsenal invest heavily into their squad; last season’s £150m spend evidence of that. It is certainly easy to see why the Gunners have done so as they at first attempt to regain their place at Europe’s top table and with it try to return to their former glories.
Despite that, Edu has admitted that, while he is intending on bringing silverware to the Emirates Stadium, it is hard to envisage the Gunners challenging at the current time due to Liverpool and Manchester City ’s duopoly of the Premier League.
Speaking to football.london, he said: “Ah, Champions League, ok — I accepted that, because I want to be realistic. But here [head], I want to win. A club like Arsenal, at our size, is not building to be fighting for fourth place. I’m sorry.
"We have to be realistic — there’s City, Liverpool etc — that’s fine, I accept that. But also, you can not accept that. Here, when you join this club, when you see our size, we cannot accept it.”
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Some supporters could potentially misconstrue those comments as a slight lack of ambition but it is simply just a recognition of the fact that Liverpool and City are almost untouchable at the current time. It is certainly not the first time that the Reds, as well as Pep Guardiola ’s reigning Premier League champions, have been put on a pedestal over recent seasons.
Ex-Man City defender Micah Richards previously suggested that both the Reds and his former side are two of the best sides in history and that others will not come close to challenging either of them for the time being.
It is certainly one thing for pundits to say that but with pivotal members of boardrooms recognising that fact, it just certainly goes to show the fantastic work that Jurgen Klopp has done on Merseyside in putting together a truly formidable side and that they are now a somewhat unrealistic ambition.
The German arrived at Anfield back in 2015 and following an indifferent couple of early domestic campaigns, has established the Reds as a real force in the Premier League. He ended the Reds’ long wait for a top division title, whilst he is somewhat unfortunate to not have more having also masterminded two further 90+ point seasons in his time as Liverpool boss.
Of course, Liverpool’s Premier League rivals will continue to try and pull both them and Manchester City down over the following seasons - including Arsenal - and it of course remains to be seen when that happens and which side are able to do that - if indeed it happens at all.
The Reds have gone about their business in a quiet but efficient manner this summer in order to stave off that threat. Liverpool secured the potential club record capture of Darwin Nunez - the Uruguayan finally getting his Liverpool career underway with a four-goal haul against German giants RB Leipzig last week. Youngsters Calvin Ramsay and Fabio Carvalho have also been recruited with the Merseysiders having one eye on the future.
They will certainly hope that business can help them in fighting off the challenge of Arsenal as they aspire to reach those levels once more. For the time being though, Liverpool will certainly be content with hoovering up the compliments as of when they come whether they are from pundits or indeed influential figures at their rivals.
