MANCHESTER (VG) Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp (55) has poured fuel into the already raging debate over economic inequality ahead of the big game against Manchester City’s Erling Braut Haaland.
– There is a large section in English football on the subject at the moment, Daily Mail football journalist Jacques Gauguin tells VG.
ahead of Sunday’s championship game at Anfield, allegedly Klopp says Liverpool can’t fight with Manchester City Because of the wealthy owners from the United Arab Emirates. Prior to the round, Manchester City were in second place – 13 points behind Liverpool in 10th place.
Nobody can compete with City. You have the best team in the world and then you come up with the best striker in the market. No matter the cost, you do it. I know City won’t like it (that’s what I say), and no one will, but you ask the question. We cannot act like them. This is not possible, Klopp said on Friday.
While City have won the league in four of the past five seasons, the Reds from Merseyside have won the Premier League in 2020. Klopp’s side have also played three Champions League finals since 2018.
According to Gauguin of England, many people in Great Britain are calling for an independent body that can enforce the sport’s financial rules in a way better than the “Financial Fair Play” system of UEFA and the English Premier League, an organization made up of the clubs themselves.
– The truth is: in the Premier League huge sums of money are spent, which one of the players recently described to me as “incomprehensible madness”. It’s a big problem. There are also clear suspicions about money coming from certain parts of the world, which has been normal here for many years. Gauguin says there are concerns that Newcastle will emulate Manchester City’s success.
Newcastle was bought last year by the Saudi Investment Fund and was immediately considered the richest club in the world.
Klopp was appointed as Liverpool coach in October 2015. The following year, fellow coach Pep Guardiola (51) arrived at Manchester City. Since then, both clubs have allocated billions of kroner to the purchase of players.
According to Transfermarkt, Haaland’s new employer apparently spent the most from 2016 to 2022 – with Chelsea at the helm of all in Europe. The London club was formerly owned by Roman Abramovich American Todd Boyle (49) Bought the blue jerseys this spring.
According to Transfermarkt’s overview, Manchester City have spent nearly NOK 12.5 billion on new players in the past seven years. By comparison, Liverpool FC is listed with Klopp with expenditures of around NOK 7.3 billion. Against player sales in the same period, City’s net expenditures are supposed to be close to 6.7 billion, while Liverpool’s losses are said to exceed 2.3 billion.
There are three football clubs and Verden can do whatever you want financially. It’s legal, and they’ll say “Yes, but…”. But these are facts. We have to look at the fact that we need to bring in talent – and then compete with them. You should all know that it is not possible to work against that, says Klopp, referring to City, Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle.
The clubs have financial support from Abu Dhabi in the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia mentioned above, respectively. Liverpool is owned by the American company Fenway Sports Group.
Some will see Klopp’s statements as bitterness or something else, but what do they expect? Miguel Delaney of The Independent writes that it is time for people in football to start talking about the big problem with the sport.
– I think it would be comical, Ole Fuglestad tells VG and laughs.
He is the spokesman for the Norwegian club Manchester City fans.
It’s only been a few months since Klopp boasted himself that he had the best players in many different positions. So it would be funny to hear it now. They are very happy to talk about net costs. But the owners of Liverpool are “ashamed”.
– How do you feel, as a proponent, that important questions are being asked about the city’s owners and its finances?
– I think it’s getting more and more comical. When City was rock bottom, no one cared where the money came from. How many teams in the Premier League have clean money? Liverpool owners choosing to spend their money on other things is not City’s fault. Instead, Klopp should ask Liverpool’s owners why they have no ambition.
According to Fuglestad, it is common for rivals and the media to cause a problematic Manchester City FC operation before major matches. On the other hand, his counterpart in the Norwegian Liverpool supporters club agrees with Klopp.
It’s quite clear that Liverpool, and no other team either, can compete with the resources of those who have unlimited money to spend on player purchases and salaries, Pål Christian Møller tells VG.
He helped found the fan club in Norway in 1980.
– It’s not an equal competition. It may not have been the case at all in football, but now it’s an extreme. Liverpool have no right to complain more than other teams, there are others who are much worse off, but it is dangerous how someone can buy a team and pocket the money. You see it in Chelsea and Newcastle. “I think football takes away a lot of its magic,” Muller says.
The financial difference makes it even more impressive that Liverpool have managed to face Manchester City in recent years. None of the three teams mentioned by Klopp have come close to the Champions League finals since 2018, like Liverpool.
– Why do you think Klopp is saying these things now?
It will certainly dampen expectations for the match against City. I think it’s tactical. Because we’ve had a very turbulent season.
in 2018 VG mentioned how Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain worked to avoid being sacked by “Financial Fair Play”. The UEFA system was introduced in 2011 and its starting point was that the expenditures of clubs should largely correspond to their total income.
Two years later, however, City were banned from the Champions League for breaching regulations, before the sanction was overturned following an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). In parallel, the Premier League has been investigating Manchester City since 2018without the public hearing the outcome of the case.
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