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Liverpool's Klopp on Chelsea, Man City spending: Some clubs owned by countries, oligarchs

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has taken a dig at the spending power of Chelsea and Manchester City and said some clubs are owned by "countries" and "oligarchs."

The Premier League champions have only signed Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiakos this summer and have struggled in their pursuit of Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago.

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Chelsea have spent big with the arrivals of Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Ben Chilwell and Hakim Ziyech while City have completed big-money deals for Nathan Ake and Ferran Torres.

"We live in a world at the moment with a lot of uncertainty," Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live. "For some clubs it seems less important how uncertain the future is.

"Owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, that's the truth. We are a different kind of club. We got to the Champions League final two years ago, we won it last year.

"We became Premier League champions last season by being the club we are. We cannot change it overnight and say: 'Now we want to behave like Chelsea.'

"They are signing a lot of players. That can be an advantage, but that means they have to fit together.

"You cannot bring in the 11 best players in the world and just hope a week later they play the best football.

"It's about working on the training ground. That will probably be an advantage for us. We've worked quite a while with each other."

Klopp was also critical when the Court of Arbitration for Sport overturned City's two-year ban from European competition in July.

The Liverpool boss was also involved in a heated exchange with Chelsea manager Frank Lampard last season and said he needed to learn.

Liverpool begin their title defence against newly promoted Leeds United on Saturday at Anfield.

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