Former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has dismissed the idea that Liverpool can be classed as big spenders following their pursuit of Darwin Nunez, arguing the club's net spend in recent years tells a different story.
The Reds are closing on on the Benfica forward, in a deal expected to surpass the £75million paid for Virgil van Dijk back in January 2018. Liverpool have agreed an upfront fee of £64.8m for Nunez, though this could rise to £85m through potential add-ons attached to the transfer agreement.
After learning of this development, a number of rival supporters have labelled Jurgen Klopp a hypocrite due to his previous comments on lucrative transfer fees. The big difference with Liverpool compared to their closest rivals is that signings such as Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk were offset by the significant departure of Philippe Coutinho.
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Indeed, since the start of the 2017/18 season, no Premier League sides have a higher net spend than United (£479.04m) and City (£424.81m). Liverpool are ranked way down in ninth place (£199m), with Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Everton and Newcastle all ahead of the Reds.
Liverpool's swoop for Nunez is expected to follow a similar pattern regarding outgoings proving pivotal, with the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Nat Phillips, Neco Williams, Sadio Mane and Takumi Minamino among those who could leave the club and raise the necessary funds to cover the cost of the Reds' imminent arrival. Sporting director Michael Edwards has ensured the Reds have acted in a shrewd manner in recent years, something Jordan was keen to hammer home as he discussed the criticism that has been levelled at Liverpool for making this signing.
"Net spend is the endgame. If you're running a business, that is what the business costs you. If someone spends £100m net spend and someone else spends £20m net spend and achieves the same thing, the team that has spent less is the better run football club," he said on talkSPORT.
Jordan added: "There is an argument about Liverpool being under-scrutinised, but everyone scrutinises and, if you’re in one camp, you’re going to say you're being more scrutinised than the other. As a matter of fact, Guardiola spends £100m net spend per year and Klopp spends £28m.
"They’re neck-and-neck and if you want to run these arguments about how many trophies you get from it, if you spend four times the amount of money in the same time span then you’re probably likely to achieve four times the outcome. Klopp spends a net spend of £28m up until the end of the last season, Guardiola spends a net spend £108m. That is, give or take, four times the net spend. It's good business [by Liverpool]. They sold Coutinho for £142m, they brought in Virgil van Dijk and the goalkeeper [Alisson] with other people’s money.
"If Liverpool are able to sell players yet progress and use other people's money, for the love of god, surely that’s good and should be admired. Not ‘hang on a second, they still spent big money’. They spend big money that other people pay them, to buy other people’s players with."
