Ahead of their meeting in the Community Shield, the traditional curtain raiser to the Premier League season, tensions between Liverpool and Manchester City have already been ratcheted-up before the two sides meet on the pitch at Wembley.
That is after Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed that remarks made by Jurgen Klopp about his club’s transfer policy have got to him.
Klopp said, when explaining Liverpool’s lack of activity in the transfer market this summer, that the club does not live in “fantasia land” and cannot buy who they liked, unlike some clubs. He then went on to reference City as well as Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG.
The Spaniard has bridle at the insinuation that his club have spent their way to success, arguing that some of their big spending in the past was necessary because he had to renew an ageing squad.
City have smashed their transfer record this summer to sign Rodri from Atlético Madrid for £62.8 million, and have also paid PSV Eindhoven £5.3 million for defender Angelino. Liverpool, by contrast, have paid only £1.7 million thus far for Sepp van der Bergen from PEC Zwolle.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.