No one should care what managers say about the transfer market
Jurgen Klopp is just the latest manager to say something about his club’s wild summer spending, but why should we care?
Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp is the latest manager to offer a full-blown opinion about his team’s spending this summer.
The Reds’ recent £66.8 million signing of Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson from AS Roma took Liverpool’s year-to-date spending to nearly £250 million.
“We don’t care what the world around us is thinking,” Klopp told reporters, according to the BBC. “Like Manchester United didn’t care what I said.”
Klopp was referring to comments he made after Manchester United doled out £89 million for French midfielder Paul Pogba, when he vowed to quit the game should such fees became commonplace.
Klopp, in the midst of a summer tour across the United States, no longer seems to care about his past statements. They’re further proof we shouldn’t care about what managers say regarding the transfer market. All managers want to win. It’s hypocritical to think coach doesn’t want his bosses to spend money to have a stronger roster. Just ask Antonio Conte about his time at Chelsea last season and his constant goading of owner Roman Abramovich.
In this regard, it’s the owners who matter most. They hold the purse strings and are the ones who decide when and on whom to spend money. In many cases, managers aren’t part of that process. We should be more interested when owners speak about the transfer market. They rarely do, however.
Klopp would have been better served, both in 2016 and recently, to say nothing regarding the question about the money spent by the club.
Instead, Klopp said this: “It is only an opinion in that moment. Did I change my opinion? Yes. That is true. But it is better to change your opinion than never have one. We have the players we want.”
Translation: I hate it when other teams buy up players and beat us, but it is OK with me once we do the same thing.
Not all owners are as silent as the ones that run Liverpool. While the U.S.-based Fenway Sports Group, which runs the Premier League club, has let its money do the talking, other team owners are more loquacious. Take Napoli’s Aurelio De Laurentiis, who recently hired Carlo Ancelotti to take over the team to replace Maurizio Sarri.
In a series of outbursts, he blasted Sarri (now at Chelsea) for what he called “errors in judgment” this past season and challenged PSG striker Edinson Cavani to “call me and lower his salary.”
Speaking with reporters at Napoli’s preseason base in near the Alps earlier this month, De Laurentiis said “there were errors in judgment throughout the season, the ability to be able to use the squad fully.”
The Napoli owner was referring to his team’s second-place finish to Juventus in Serie A in which critics charged Sarri did not make total use of his bench throughout the congested fixture schedule.
Asked about Cavani, the Uruguay striker who once played for Napoli, De Laurentiis said: “I know you’d all like him, but I can clear this up immediately. Edi earns €20 million every 10 months. Having him and not letting the others play, at a time when our coach has just taken charge, would be a serious problem. Having only one player isn’t enough to win: we had [Gonzalo] Higuain, who broke the [goalscoring] record … Those who work with us break records and go on to earn double.”
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He added: “Cavani has my number. If he wants, he can call me, lower his salary and put me in touch with PSG.”
If only Liverpool’s owners were this talkative. In the meantime, we’re left with Klopp and his comments about changing his mind in a span of two years. Liverpool impressed last season by reaching the Champions League final, and have spent big this summer in an effort to challenge Manchester City in the league. If they do, they’ll have a host of very expensive signings to thank. Not that Klopp will care about their price tags. Neither should anyone else.