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Jurgen Klopp has highlighted Saudi Arabia’s big-spending summer as the reason why he broke his own vow to never spend more than £100m on a player.
On Thursday it was revealed that Liverpool had agreed a deal with Brighton to sign Moises Caicedo for £111m, beating Chelsea to their number one target after they only offered £100m.
Despite that, Caicedo has reportedly rejected Liverpool for a move to Chelsea.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the Brighton midfielder “only wants to join Chelsea,” and will only accept the personal terms he agreed with the London club in May.
Although it seems like they won’t be signing the midfielder after all, Klopp has come in for criticism over previous comments he made when it came to spending big on a player.
Back in 2016, when Manchester United had signed Paul Pogba for £89m, he said: “The day that this is football, I’m not in a job anymore.”
When quizzed about those comments, Klopp admitted that he had to go against his own word due the current landscape of modern football, citing Saudi Arabia as the instigator behind it.
"I was wrong." 🗣
Jurgen Klopp has changed his mind after criticising high transfer fees in 2016 👀💰 pic.twitter.com/EJJXBZTg8Q
— ESPN UK (@ESPNUK) August 11, 2023
“Everything changed. Do I like it? No. Did I realise I was wrong? Yes. That’s the way it goes,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia will not help with that. In the end, we have to try and make sure we get the best possible team together.
“50 percent will like it and 50 percent won’t. We are trying to bring together the best squad for us. We cannot just point on players and bring them in, there is a lot of work to do. Sometimes one door closes and another opens up. If people want to throw my quotes from five years ago, no problem. I realise I was wrong.”
Liverpool have signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai already this summer and had a deal for Caicedo gone through, it would’ve taken their total spending to £205m.
Source: joe.co.uk
