Spending huge amounts of money in the transfer market, like Chelsea have done this summer, does not guarantee success as clubs must do the hard work on the training ground to integrate new signings, Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp has said.
Chelsea, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have spent around $259.88 million to bring in Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell, while Thiago Silva and Malang Sarr arrived on free transfers.
Premier League champions Liverpool, who finished 33 points ahead of Frank Lampard’s side last season, have signed only left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas from Olympiakos Piraeus.
“We live in a world at the moment with a lot of uncertainty,” Klopp told BBC. “For some clubs it’s less important how uncertain the future is: those owned by countries, oligarchs, that’s the truth. We’re a different kind of club.
“We got to the Champions League final two years ago, we won it last year, and became Premier League champions last season by being the club we are.
“We cannot just change overnight and say, ‘So now we want to behave like Chelsea’. They are signing a lot of players. That can be an advantage but that means they have to fit together pretty quickly.
“You cannot bring in the 11 best players and hope a week later they play the best football ever. It’s about working together on the training ground.”
Liverpool begin their title defence against newly promoted Leeds United on September 12 while Chelsea face Brighton & Hove Albion two days later.
Bielsa to stay
Leeds manager Marcelo Bielsa committed his future to the Yorkshire club on Thursday.
The Argentine coach, who joined Leeds in 2018, guided them to an automatic promotion to the top flight after winning the second-tier Championship this year but a new agreement to extend his stay at Elland Road had not yet been formally announced.
“I will be working the next season at Leeds United,” Bielsa, 65, told reporters.
Bielsa also praised his Liverpool counterpart Klopp for building a formidable squad.
“A just champion with a consistent style of play,” Bielsa added. “Without a doubt one of the best teams in the world
