Phil Thompson has rubbished Jose Mourinho’s claims that Liverpool are trying to buy the Premier League crown.
The Manchester United boss recently deemed Jurgen Klopp’s busy summer transfer window as an attempt to secure title glory through heavy investment.
Liverpool finished as the highest spenders in England’s top flight after forking out over £170million on midfielders Naby Keita and Fabinho, versatile forward Xherdan Shaqiri and goalkeeper Alisson.
Mourinho’s most notable piece of business came in the £52million signing of Fred from Shakhtar Donetsk, with young full-back Diogo Dalot and goalkeeper Lee Grant the only other new faces to arrive at Old Trafford this summer.
The United boss’ latest comments follow recent suggestions Liverpool had been buying ‘everything and everybody’, perhaps reflecting his own frustration at a lack of signings more than an outright disapproval of the transfer activity around him.
Anfield legend Thompson believes it is rich for Mourinho to make such comments having been known to spend big in the past himself.
“Pot and kettle? Oh my goodness,” Thompson said on Soccer Saturday.
“How can he say that? Is he just trying to wind people up because this is Jose? Liverpool trying to buy the title? Oh my goodness, I can accept that from some other clubs and managers, but not from Jose Mourinho.
“Just because we’ve spent some money this summer? It was absolutely outrageous comments coming from Mourinho, whose bought titles everywhere he’s gone.”
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Manchester United arguably enjoyed their busy summer last year, when Mourinho spent just under £150million on Romelu Lukaku, Nemanja Matic and Victor Lindelof.
The club rightly addressed priority positions, just as Liverpool have this summer after making no secret of a desire to strengthen in midfield.
Introducing Keita and Fabinho, in the end, marked the club’s efforts to compensate for the loss of Emre Can following his move to Juventus and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in response to his long-term injury layoff.
Though it looked as though it may not happen at one stage, the signing of a goalkeeper also came as no surprise on the back of Loris Karius’ Champions League nightmare and shaky pre-season form.