Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp declared Chelsea can sign whoever they want as the off-field transfer battle between these two sides dragged into a new week.
The Liverpool manager was confident he had landed Brighton’s Moises Caicedo in a club record €129million in last Friday’s press conference ahead of this match.
The Ecuador midfielder then revealed he wants to sign for Chelsea and Klopp appears to have given up on the chase.
The other player they are now also fighting a losing battle for is Southampton midfielder Romeo Lavia, another expensive, long-term Klopp target.
Told Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino was confident of making more signings this week, Klopp added said “If that is what the Chelsea managers wants, usually they get it.
“I have nothing to say about that, to be honest. I am sorry.”
Pochettino now hopes to be the winner in the 49th and 50th transfer deals the club has negotiated in Todd Boehly and his consortium’s astonishing reign since they bought out Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich just over a year ago.
Pochettino would not be drawn on Caicedo and Lavia specifically but confirmed: “We need good players. Yes, we need to improve the squad. Yes, but you know it’s not new.
“We are working really hard. I am so happy the way that we are working with our [transfer] team here and,of course, the owner. For sure we are going to improve our squad.”
Liverpool owner John Henry and his fellow American countryman Boehly were both in the directors’ box at Chelsea to watch their teams battle out a 1-1 draw. But there can be only one winner in the transfer market and the smart money is now firmly on both players ending up in London.
