Manchester United manager José Mourinho took a thinly veiled swipe at Jürgen Klopp after the Liverpool boss spent a world record £75 million for a defender to sign Virgin van Dijk.
Klopp was openly sceptical about when United spent a then world record £89 million on signing Paul Pogba from Juventus in the summer of 2016.
Speaking in July 2016, Klopp said:
And Klopp has now been made out to sound like a hypocrite having made van Dijk the most expensive defender in football history.
Asked about Liverpool paying such a huge fee for van Dijk, Mourinho told reporters:
Klopp was openly sceptical about when United spent a then world record £89 million on signing Paul Pogba from Juventus in the summer of 2016.
Speaking in July 2016, Klopp said:
Other clubs can go out and spend more money and collect top players, yes. But if you bring one player in for £100 million or whatever, and he gets injured, then it all goes through the chimney.
Do I have to do it differently to that? Actually, I want to do it differently. I would even do it differently if I could spend that money.
And Klopp has now been made out to sound like a hypocrite having made van Dijk the most expensive defender in football history.
Asked about Liverpool paying such a huge fee for van Dijk, Mourinho told reporters:
I think the one's that speak about it in a specific way has to be Jürgen. And if I was one of you I would ask him about his comments about one year ago.
But not speaking specifically about that case, because in Liverpool they do what they want to do, and I am nobody to comment on what they do.
The reality is that if they think that the player is the right player for them and they really want the player they pay his amount or they don't have the player because that is the way the market is at that time.
So when we compare now the amount of money certain managers and clubs spend, to try to compare that, I am not saying even 10 years ago, but even three years ago, is to compare the impossible. You cannot compare the realities.
Van Dijk is the most expensive defender in history of football, was he better than Paolo Maldini, Giuseppe Bergomi or Rio Ferdinand?
You cannot say that, it's just the way the market is, and you pay or you don't pay. If you pay, obviously you pay a crazy amount of money, but if you don't, you don't have the player.
It's as simple as that, so no critics at all about what Liverpool did, it's just the way it is.
