Simon Jordan says Frank Lampard was ‘dumb’ to compare Chelsea’s spending to Liverpool’s in his last verbal battle with Jurgen Klopp.
The Blues boss hit back at the Reds manager on Monday after Klopp insisted his squad were different from ‘clubs owned by countries and oligarchs’.
Chelsea have been the Premier League’s big spenders again this summer, spending more than £ 200million on new club record signing Kai Havertz, forwards Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech and England full-back Ben Chillwell, with Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr arriving in free transfers.
Meanwhile, defending champions Liverpool have been more frugal, with club chiefs refusing to spend big bucks amid the financial uncertainty of the COVID-19 crisis and signing only left-back so far Greek Kostas Tsimikas as the cover of Andy Robertson.
Lampard however objected to Klopp’s remarks, saying he was ‘amused’ by the Liverpool boss pointing to Chelsea’s spending spree when the Reds also signed players for big money these last years.
This is not the first time the two managers have faced each other, having been involved in a heated rally on the sideline in Liverpool’s 5-3 win over Chelsea in July, after which Lampard qualified the champions. arrogant.
But talkSPORT expert Simon Jordan said Lampard’s argument was deeply flawed and explained to Jim White why he thought there was a big difference between the two clubs, as Klopp suggested.
The former owner of Crystal Palace said: “Nation states and oligarchs are pushing football clubs in a certain direction…
“But Liverpool are a natural and organically iconic football club and, as far as Chelsea is concerned, they are not. It is a club made on the demands of a man’s incredible wealth.
“The idea that Liverpool have sort of spent a lot of money is really a bit ludicrous as Liverpool have sold £ 150million Coutinho, which funded Virgil van Dijk’s move.
“So if you want to draw a parallel with the £ 75million they spent on Van Dijk, Frank, do it between the £ 75million spent by Liverpool and the £ 75million you spent on your goalie – see if it works!
“If Liverpool have sold players for £ 200million, say Suarez and Coutinho, over the last five years and spent £ 350million during that time, then they’ve spent a net £ 30million a year.
“It’s not bad for a club which just destroyed the Premier League last season before the lockdown!”