Pochettino kicks Klopp

"Things can change over time. I've heard Klopp say he's not going to buy players for £100m. But then Liverpool offered that price to Moises Caicedo and he said: 'Oh, I was wrong.' There is nothing else here," Pochettino said on August 24 at a press conference before the match against Luton Town.

Klopp once said he would quit, if Liverpool offered to buy a player for more than 100 million pounds ($126 million). But the German coach seems to contradict that statement last week, when the Anfield team offered $ 139 million for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo.

Caicedo was also a transfer target for Chelsea, and he eventually chose to join Stamford Bridge for an English football record price of $144 million. On August 20, Caicedo made his Chelsea debut in a 1-3 loss to West Ham.

"In football, things change very quickly, and we need to move forward. Today, nothing has changed. But if something happens, we need to adapt," added Pochettino.

The Argentina coach also thinks that he needs to keep an open mind about the case of Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian striker, who is currently training with the U21 team, expressed his desire to leave after his loan contract ended with Inter last season. While not denying the possibility of Lukaku returning to Chelsea, Pochettino said this case is not his responsibility.

Due to the inability to recruit Caicedo, Liverpool have yet to spend more than £100 million on any player. But the level of offer they made to Brighton shows that Klopp's team is ready to break the club transfer record to get more recruits. Previously, Liverpool also probed the case of Jude Bellingham but could not compete with Real. Liverpool's most expensive player is currently Darwin Nunez, the striker was bought from Benfica in the summer of 2022 for a total fee of 107 million USD, including 84 million fixed and 23 million additional fees.