head coach Frank Lampard gestures during the English Premier League
football match between Chelsea and Bournemouth at Stamford Bridge
in London on December 14, 2019. OLLY GREENWOOD / AFP
Chelsea coach Frank Lampard says he is amused rather
than annoyed by Jurgen Klopp’s criticism of his summer spending,
pointing out that Liverpool splashed the cash on the road to
Premier League glory.
Lampard has invested around £200 million ($257 million) on Timo
Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell, with Thiago
Silva arriving on a free transfer and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy
reportedly set to join from Rennes.
By contrast, Klopp has added only Greece left-back Kostas
Tsimikas to his league-winning squad so far.
manager Jurgen Klopp addresses a press conference on the eve of the
UEFA Champions League, last 16, second leg football match Bayern
Munich v Liverpool in Munich, southern Germany, on March 13, 2019.
Christof STACHE / AFP
Lampard, whose side begin their campaign away at Brighton on
Monday, said any owner needed huge resources to compete in the
Premier League.
“I was less annoyed with it, I found it more, slightly amusing,
I would say,” he said, referring to Klopp’s comments.
“Because I think when you talk about the owners of clubs I don’t
think it matters what line of business they come from, we’re
talking about some very wealthy owners of clubs in the Premier
League.”
– Chelsea ban –
Lampard, who last season warned Liverpool not to get “too
arrogant” after they won the title, said the champions’ owners,
Fenway Sports Group, had spent a lot of money since Klopp had been
in charge.
“Liverpool’s story, it’s a fantastic story of a club over
four-and-a-half, five years that Jurgen Klopp’s been there that
have managed to get recruitment right to a really high level,” said
the Chelsea boss.
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“And the reality is probably, other than maybe Leicester
(champions in 2016), which is an incredible story, most clubs that
win the Premier League in the modern day have recruited well and
recruited at a high level money-wise.
“And you can go through the Liverpool players: Van Dijk,
Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Mane, Salah, incredible players, that came
at a very high price.”
Lampard, who guided Chelsea to fourth place and the FA Cup final
in his first season in charge, said his spending should be put into
context, given that when he replaced Maurizio Sarri the club was
under a transfer ban.
“So Liverpool have done it, and they’ve done it over a period of
time,” said Lampard.
“What we’ve done is come off the back of a ban, probably tried
to address the situation ourselves to help improve us.
“So I think it’s par for the course, and I think we all know
that there’s no point in doing the maths too much because I think
we know that Liverpool have spent at a high level, we know they
have an incredible coach, we know they have incredible
players.”
Lampard said he hoped he could do as Klopp had done and repay
the faith of owner Roman Abramovich by delivering results.
“The really smart thing Liverpool have done I think is believe
in their coach, believe in their system for a number of years,” he
said.
“So it’s a great story, but it’s a story that has seen money
spent on players. And this summer we’ve spent money on players, and
now the hard work has to be done.”
AFP