‘They can go to court’ – Guardiola reacts to Klopp’s criticism of Man City transfers

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Financial fair play has been a hot topic for both Premier League bosses in recent years

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said Liverpool should “go to court” if they don’t like costly transfers from their club following criticism from Jurgen Klopp.

Klopp recently claimed that Guardiola has no limit on his spending, implying an unfair advantage for the Spain head coach. But Guardiola believes Manchester City are adhering to Financial Fair Play protocol and are simply the benefactor of good property.

The managers have been responsible for the last four Premier League titles (three for Guardiola and one for Klopp), so their rivalry carries a tension that sometimes spills over into the press.

Editors’ Choice What was said?

“Some owners want to take advantage of it, our owners don’t want any benefits. So they don’t invest in the team, whereas we invest what we can,” said Guardiola.

“Before there were only one or two clubs. Now there is Chelsea with [Roman] Abramovich and our club with Cheikh Mansour. They want to buy into football. What’s the problem? We have limits for financial fair play and if they disagree [with Citys spending] they can go to court and make a statement.

“We bought Jack Grealish because we sold [players] for 60m therefore, in the end, we passed 40m. We absolutely follow the rules. In our club the owners don’t want to lose money of course but they want to spend so we can do it.

“Years ago when Manchester United won a lot of titles it was because they spent more money than other clubs. Remember that? At that time Man City couldn’t do it because we didn’t have the owners that we have now. “

What are the comments that upset Guardiola?

Referring to Manchester City, Klopp said: “We are allowed to spend the money we earn… they obviously have no limits.”

Summer expenses for clubs

Manchester City’s banner signing was winger Jack Grealish, recently bought from Aston Villa for 100million ($ 138million), and they are still reportedly on the hunt for a big budget striker.

Guardiola has cleared Sergio Aguero’s salaries off the books and has seen Angelino, Jack Harrison and Lukas Nmecha sold in recent months.

Liverpool, meanwhile, bought RB Leipzig defender Ibrahima Konate for $ 36million ($ 50million), lost Gini Wijnaldum on a free transfer and sold several fringe plates but made little movement elsewhere.

Further reading

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