“They haven’t got the money to compete” - Gary Neville says Liverpool’s owners have been caught out in the transfer market
Manchester United icon Gary Neville has sent a warning to Liverpool's hierarchy over their recent transfer business.
Neville believes Liverpool's reluctance to break the bank in the transfer market will eventually catch up to them and cause issues for the club. The Englishman said on The Overlap (as quoted by talkSPORT):
"I think with Liverpool - and I have said this before, and it is coming this moment - the last two years, Chelsea have spent huge, Arsenal have spent huge, United have spent huge, City to be fair, are City and I think it's caught them out.
"It's caught the owners out. They haven't got the money to compete, I think it's shocked them the market. You know, the [Jude] Bellingham deal, £100-odd-million, [Declan] Rice £100-odd-million, [Enzo] Fernandez £100-odd-million, [Moises] Caicedo £100m."
He added:
"I think they're at that £50m, 60m and they're comfortable there, but I think they've hit the point where at they've hit the ceiling and they're at a lower level than the other four, five clubs. It's going to come and hit them like a ton of bricks at some point."
The Reds have signed Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai this summer, paying a sum of £95 million for the two midfielders. However, the Merseyside outfit have seen a disproportionate amount of departures.
Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Fabinho, Arthur Melo, and James Milner have left Anfield this summer.
Meanwhile, their Premier League rivals are spending big in the transfer market. Chelsea spent in excess of £600 million during the 2022/23 campaign, signing the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk, while Arsenal have spent more than £200 million this summer.
"He can't keep doing it" - Gary Neville says Jurgen Klopp needs money to help Liverpool compete
Neville claims that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp will not be able to compete at the highest level without the necessary spending allowance in the transfer market.
The Englishman, while admitting that the German boss has done an impressive job at Anfield, insists that the board needs to financially back their manager.
He said:
"The manager, at some point, is going to wake up in the morning and go... because he's shielding them, there's no doubt. He's done an unbelievable job, the best job of anybody I believe in the last seven or eight years with the budget that he's had and the spend that he's had."
The former Manchester United defender added:
"But he can't keep doing it. He can't keep doing it. He needs that money to be able to go and compete."
Klopp has had an exceptional career at Anfield, winning multiple trophies with the Reds. The German boss ended Liverpool's 30-year wait for a Premier League title after a dominant 2019/20 campaign that saw them lift the trophy.
Klopp has also won the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup, and the Carabao Cup as the Liverpool boss.