“For the love of God surely that's good and should be admired” – Simon Jordan highlights impressive thing about Liverpool
As Liverpool close in on a record-breaking deal for Benfica striker Darwin Nunez, former Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan has come to the defence of the Merseyside club's transfer strategy.
The 19-time league winners are set to complete the signing of the 22-year-old poacher in a deal worth up to £85 million, making the Uruguayan the most expensive buy in the club's history.
Reinforcing their attack before the imminent departure of forward Sadio Mane, the Reds have struck a deal of £64 million up front with a potential £21 million in add-ons to acquire the striker.
#LFC
Official and here we go confirmed!Darwin Núñez, new Liverpool player on a permanent deal from Benfica. 🚨📑 #LFC
Benfica statement confirms “deal now signed for €75m fee plus add-ons to reach €100m package”.
Núñez will sign until 2028, medical today.
Never been in doubt. https://t.co/DEroWLCBH7
Although Benfica have already released a statement about the transfer, some formalities still remain to be done before Nunez is officially unveiled as a Liverpool player.
Many former players and pundits have lauded Jurgen Klopp's success at the club on a comparatively lower budget than the competitors in the past and rival fans took to social media to ridicule the big-money Nunez transfer.
However, the former Palace chairman highlighted the importance of net spend in running a football club on talkSPORT.
“Klopp’s net spend is £28m-a-year, Pep’s is £100m-a-year!”
“Liverpool are able to sell players yet progress, that should be admired!”💷 “Klopp’s net spend is £28m-a-year, Pep’s is £100m-a-year!”
👏 “Liverpool are able to sell players yet progress, that should be admired!”
🤝 “Liverpool spend what other people pay them for their players!”
Simon Jordan defends #LFC spending big on players like Darwin Nunez. https://t.co/CcEguIkUf6
“I don’t understand this argument that people get offended by, net spend is the end game. If you’re running a business, it is all about what the business has cost you. If someone spends £100 million a year in net spend and someone spends £20 million a year in net spend and they achieve the same thing, the team that spends the less is the better-run football club.”
Jordan then compared Liverpool and reigning Premier League champion Manchester City’s net spend.
“As a matter of fact, [Pep] Guardiola spends £100 million a year net spend and [Jurgen] Klopp spends £28 million, and they’re neck and neck," he elaborated.
"Of course, if you want to run the arguments about how many trophies you get from it, well if you spend four times the amount of money, you would probably like to achieve four times the outcome."
The 54-year-old further added, "It’s good business, Liverpool sold [Philippe] Coutinho for £142 million and they bought [Virgil] van Dijk and the goalkeeper [Alisson] with other people’s money."
"If Liverpool are able to sell players yet progress, for the love of God surely that is good and should be admired."
The Reds will be looking forward to offloading a number of players this summer, with Sadio Mane seemingly also on his way out. The 30-year-old forward is set for a £40 million move to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.