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Topics: Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Premier League
Daniel Marland
Topics: Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Manchester City, Newcastle United, Premier League
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has called out the spending of Premier League rivals Manchester City and Newcastle United.
Pep Guardiola added Erling Haaland to his squad in the summer, with the Norway international scoring 20 goals for the club already.
City have won four of the last five Premier League titles, but Liverpool won the other in 2020. Klopp believes the gap between the two sides has grown thanks to City's spending power.
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When asked how his defence will be able to stop Haaland, Klopp offered a blunt answer.
He told reporters: "You will not like the answer, and you all have the answer already. Nobody can compete with City. You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market, no matter what it costs, you just do it.
"I know City will not like it, nobody will like it. You've asked the question but you know the answer."
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Klopp named Newcastle and Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain as three sides who can do 'whatever they want' thanks to their ownership.
City and Newcastle are owned by the United Arab Emirates and the Saudi Arabia public investment fund, while PSG's owners are from Qatar.
All three clubs boast huge wealth, which Klopp believes can't be stopped.
The German coach continued: "What does Liverpool do? We cannot act like them. It is not possible. Not possible. It is just clear and again you know the answer. There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want financially.
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"It's legal and everything, fine, but they can do what they want. They will say 'yeah but we have...' but it's exactly the fact.
"I heard now that at Newcastle somebody (sporting director Dan Ashworth) said 'there is no ceiling for this club'.
"Yes! He is right. He is absolutely right. There is no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations, but other clubs have ceilings."
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Liverpool's net spend since Klopp's arrival seven years ago is £207.32 million with an average spend of £28 million per season.
They signed Fabio Carvalho, Calvin Ramsay and Darwin Nunez in the summer while balancing the books with the sales of Sadio Mane, Takumi Minamino and Neco Williams.
City did refresh their squad a fair bit too. They allowed Raheem Sterling to join Chelsea, while Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko moved to Arsenal.
Guardiola added Haaland, Kalvin Phillips, Manuel Akanji, Sergio Gomez and Stefan Ortega to his squad in response.