Frank Lampard 'amused' by Jurgen Klopp's comments on Chelsea spending

Frank Lampard says he was "amused" by Jurgen Klopp's comments on Chelsea's transfer spending and that Liverpool's heavy expenditure in previous years had laid the foundations for last season's Premier League title triumph.

Chelsea, owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, have spent around £200m to bring in Timo Werner, Kai Havertz, Hakim Ziyech and Ben Chilwell.

Klopp, who has only signed left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas from Olympiakos Piraeus this season, said Liverpool would not be spending a similar amount as they were a "different kind" of club, one "not owned by countries or an oligarch".

"I found it slightly amusing because when you talk about the owners of clubs, I don't think it matters what line of business they come from," Lampard told British media. "We are talking about some very rich owners in the Premier League.

"Liverpool's story is a fantastic story of a club over the five years that Klopp has been there that they have managed to get recruitment right to a really high level," he added.

"You can go through the Liverpool players, (Virgil) Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Sadio Mane, (Mohamed)Salah, incredible players that came at a very high price."

Since Liverpool became champions for the first time in 30 years, Jurgen Klopp has been keen to stress that the best way to defend their crown is to attack the next one.

After opening up their quest for title No.20 in the 4-3 thriller against newly-promoted Leeds, these words rang very true. It wasn’t at all what Klopp was alluding to when looking at the bigger picture of the new season, but the performance perhaps threw the spotlight on an area of the team that few have seriously questioned in recent times.

The Reds looked undeniably and unsurprisingly dangerous in the attacking third but equally vulnerable at the back as Leeds pushed them to the wire.