Jurgen Klopp and his press conferences are not famous for no reason. The Liverpool boss was asked about the much-talked gossip of the town, which is Chelsea going berserk with the money. The Blues were literally unstoppable in the January market, as they were in the summer, spending a whopping £320m on a stunning seven signings.
Moreover, the last of their seven signings broke some records as their £106m acquisition of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica made it a British record transfer. The Argentine also became the most expensive midfielder as well as Chelsea’s most expensive signing after completing his move. With having already spent £204m, it was baffling to see the Blues fork out this money on the 22-year-old player.
‘Congratulations if you can do it’ – Jurgen Klopp on Chelsea’s spending going unchecked
Jurgen Klopp is just one of those many whose eyes were left wide open at Chelsea shelling out another £250m plus in back to back windows. The Blues spent a staggering £253m in the summer and brought in the likes of Wesley Fofana for £72m, Marc Cucurella for £58m, Raheem Sterling for £51m amongst a host of signings. The new owners, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital were desperate to announce themselves in fashion after taking over the club from Roman Abramovich.
While the FFP watched from far away, it was thought that the the winter market at Stamford Bridge will be somewhat cold. However, they still went ahead and splashed another £320m, with the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk [£88m] and Enzo Fernandez [£106m] amongst five other players arriving at the club. Again it left footballing fraternity baffled over why isn’t the FFP having a say.
Meanwhile, asked on how he assesses Chelsea’s spending spree, Jurgen Klopp said:
“I’m saying nothing without my lawyer! I don’t understand that part of the business, what you can do, what you can’t you do. it’s a big number in the last two windows. The players they brought in, I didn’t think once ‘why did they do that?’. They are all really good players, so from that point of view, congratulations if you can do it. I don’t understand how it’s possible, but it’s not for me to explain how it works. Hopefully you all know exactly how it works, and then it’s fine!”
The Liverpool boss was further quizzed about whether he feels if Chelsea counterpart Graham Potter will be able to get the best out of his dozen signings for an instant impact, he responded:
“Yeah, Graham knows that. I’m not sure Todd Boehly is too interested in that, but it will happen at one point that they play well together. With the quality they have, that’s hard to avoid. How quickly it will happen, I don’t know.”
While Jurgen Klopp is backing Potter to get his signings hit the ground running, although the timeline is unknown, that wasn’t the case against Chelsea’s latest game against Fulham. The Blues could only manage a goalless draw at home despite the amount of firepower Potter threw into the game. Todd Boehly was in the stands with his face blanked at full-time whistle.
As far as FFP concerned, Chelsea have apparently escaped any punishment as a result of their amortisation rules. Chelsea have not only made significant purchases but also given new signings lengthy contracts, with Mudryk penning a eight-and-a-half-year deal. As a result of allegations that contract lengths can be used to circumvent FFP requirements, UEFA is currently planning to tighten its contract length limits.