Premier League: Guardiola and Klopp are stunned by Chelsea’s spending

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola and his Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp said they were stunned by Chelsea’s massive spending spree in the English Premier League during the January transfer window.
Chelsea was the most active in the transfer market, signing 8 players last month, which raised its total expenses since the end of last season to more than 500 million pounds ($605 million).
Chelsea also concluded the most expensive deal in the history of the league, at a value of 121 million euros, to obtain the services of the Argentine World Cup winner, Enzo Fernandes, from Benfica, Portugal, on the final day of the closing of the transfer window, Tuesday.
For its part, City spent only 8 million pounds on Argentine midfielder Maximo Peroni during the January window, while Liverpool signed Dutch striker Cody Khakpo from PSV for a deal ranging between 40 and 50 million euros.
Chelsea’s spending since the takeover of Stamford Bridge by American businessman Todd Bohle’s consortium last year has raised questions about how the club can meet FFP requirements.
Guardiola suggested that City, given their past problems with fair play, would have faced criticism and scrutiny had they made more signings than Chelsea’s new signings.
“I know what will happen,” said City coach Al-Mamlouk of the Abu Dhabi United Group on Friday. This is none of my business, but it is a surprise because it is not one of the clubs owned by countries.
He added, “What worries me is that we have won 11 trophies in the last five years, being the fifth or sixth net-spending team in the Premier League. This is what really matters to us.”
And he added, “What Chelsea does is none of my business. I never give opinions on other clubs, because there are regulations and laws that we must adhere to … But I don’t forget, 8 or 9 clubs in the league sent a letter to the League to ban us. It happened to us.”
In turn, Klopp was surprised by the level of Chelsea’s spending and the improvement of the capabilities of coach Graham Potter’s team, which ranks tenth in the “Premier League”, equal on points with Liverpool ninth (29 each).
“I don’t understand this part of the job,” said the German coach. What you can do and what you cannot do. However, it is a large number in the last two windows.
And he added, “The players who brought them in, I never once thought why they did it, they are all among the most prominent, so from this point of view, congratulations when you can do it, and it is clear that they do.”
He continued, “I do not understand how this is possible, but it is not for me to explain how things are going. I hope you all know how that happens, so that’s okay.”
In response to a question whether he expected an immediate improvement in Chelsea’s level after these signings, the former Borussia Dortmund coach said: “Yes, Graham knows that… This will happen at some point in addition to that they will play well together… It is difficult to avoid that, But I know how quickly things will go.”