Advantage Chelsea! Guardiola and Klopp's rants show fear of Pochettino's Blues

James Shearman

• Updated: 19 Aug 2023 09:47 BST
• 3 min read

Pep Guardiola is the latest manager to have a dig at Chelsea's transfer business, after Jurgen Klopp earlier this week.

The Blues have once again spent an extraordinary amount in the transfer window, having done so in the last two.

The likes of Moises Caicedo (£115 million), Romeo Lavia (£58m) and Christopher Nkunku (£52m) have all joined the west London club.

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Meanwhile, Manchester City and Liverpool have spent far less, despite having much better 2022-23 seasons.

And the managers of both clubs have commented on the Blues' transfer activity.

"I couldn't sit here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the last two transfer windows - you would kill me," Guardiola told reporters.

"You would kill me, that is for sure. We'd be under scrutiny like you couldn't imagine.

"We have to see what happens in the market and if we can do it and to pay what we believe is fair.

"We wanted (Harry) Maguire and didn't buy him because we didn't want to pay, we wanted (Marc) Cucurella and didn't pay, we wanted Alexis Sanchez and didn't pay."

While Klopp has even more reason to be frustrated with Chelsea, having lost out on his top two midfield targets (Caicedo and Lavia) to them.

"That's what Chelsea managers want and they usually get it," he said.

Guardiola and Klopp's rants show fear of Pochettino's Blues

Chelsea have spent incredibly since the arrival of their new ownership group, fronted by Todd Boehly.

And while it hasn't led to success yet - quite the opposite in fact - one would expect their fortunes to turn around going forward.

Pochettino's youthful side are not expected to challenge for the Premier League title this season, but they are well set up to dominate in years to come.

The Blues' rivals are certainly paying close attention to their transfer activity - perhaps in fear of them building a 'superteam'.