Ahead of his Liverpool side's make or break clash with Manchester City on Sunday afternoon, Jurgen Klopp spoke out in an impassioned rant bemoaning the endless funds of City and their fellow state-owned rivals.
City were purchased by the Abu Dhabi Group in 2008, and have since had vast sums of money to call on in the transfer market. Liverpool's finances simply cannot compete with the likes of City, or another Premier League club, Newcastle United, who were recently bought by PIF, a group aligned with the Saudi Arabian government.
Speaking to the media ahead of Liverpool v Manchester City on Sunday, Klopp said that state-owned spending was "not a problem" for him, but that it was something that Liverpool could not reasonably expect to compete with.
Jurgen Klopp speaks out against state-owned teams
This summer, Manchester City spend £55 million in bringing the seemingly unstoppable Erling Haaland to the Etihad from Borussia Dortmund. Haaland's arrival was alongside the £44 million spent on Kalvin Phillips, and follows last season's £100 million acquisition of Jack Grealish from Aston Villa.
"There's no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations. Some other club's have ceilings."
Jurgen Klopp has his say on the financial resources of clubs like Man City and Newcastle pic.twitter.com/OpkiZHLD0S— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) October 14, 2022
Speaking to the media about City's spending - which extends to an inflated wage bill and spending on top class facilities in the east of Manchester - Jurgen Klopp said:
Nobody can compete with City in that [spending]. You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market, no matter what it costs - you just do it.
I know City will not like it, nobody will like it when you ask the question - but you know the answer.
Liverpool cannot act like them. It's not possible. There are three clubs in world football who can do what they want. But, actually, it's legal, everything, fine, they can do what they want.
We [Liverpool] have to look around and make that, make that, make this younger, a prospect, here a talent...you compete with them, it's not a problem at all for me, it's like what it is.
Don't start this discussion and it's me telling you - you all know it. You should know.
It's not possible to deal with that, and it will be like this. I've heard now that Newcastle, there's no ceiling for this club. That's right - absolutely right. There's no ceiling for Newcastle. Congratulations. Some other clubs have ceilings.
Jurgen Klopp's comments come just over a month ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, who are a majority owner of Paris Saint-Germain in France.
There's no denying that City's resources are seemingly endless, and that the new Saudi investment at Newcastle looks set to have a similar impact. Despite Liverpool spending big on isolated signings over the past few years such as Darwin Nunez and Virgil van Dijk, they simply cannot expect to compete with the spending of the likes of City.
The two sides will meet on Sunday, in very different places to their last league meeting in April. That clash came with the sides locked in a grueling title battle, with City ultimately coming out narrowly on top after a dramatic conclusion on the last day.
This season has seen a dramatic turn in fortunes for Liverpool, who have struggled for results in the Premier League and only have two wins so far. City, by contrast, have been reinvigorated by the arrival of Haaland, and sit second to a rejuvenated Arsenal side.
There is so much riding on Sunday's game at Anfield - Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that his team can compete with City on the field.
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