‘My god, were we lucky!’ - Jurgen Klopp fires shots at Chelsea over Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia transfer sagas as Liverpool boss jokes ‘you see what happens’

Liverpool tried and failed to recruit Southampton talent Lavia and Brighton talisman Caicedo in the summer, with the midfield duo joining Chelsea for £58 million ($74m) and £115m ($144m) respectively. However, Lavia has been out injured with an ankle problem and Caicedo has underwhelmed in the centre of the park. Conversely, the Reds signed defensive midfielder Wataru Endo for just £16m and the Japanese international has proven to be a great purchase so far. Now, Klopp has had a bit of fun at Chelsea's expense with some cheeky comments.

Chelsea have spent hundreds of millions of pounds on players, dwarfing the fees their rivals have spent, and yet they are still struggling to break free from being a mid-table side. They still do not look like a cohesive unit and their problems do not appear to be resolved quickly. Liverpool, on the other hand, are top of the Premier League and their revamped midfield, which also includes Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, and Ryan Gravenberch, is firing on all cylinders despite not spending nearly as much as the Blues.

Speaking at the Anfield Road Stand test event, Klopp said: “The summer we had, we had a few strange things happen in the transfer market but here, between us, I can say, ‘My god, were we lucky, eh?'. We didn’t know that in that moment and it didn’t feel like it in that moment, but yeah, I’m really happy that it worked out, but you never know before."

He then joked: “We obviously realised that other central defensive midfielders don’t want to join Liverpool, you see what happens, and then we found [Wataru] Endo. He’s an exceptional player.”

Since Todd Boehly took over at Stamford Bridge in 2022, Chelsea have spent more than £1b on transfer fees. However, their form in 2023 has been that of a relegated side, and recent stats put forward by the Telegraph show that they are the league's worst side this calendar year in terms of points-per-game.

Liverpool begin a busy stretch of games on Thursday when they take on Union SG in the Europa League, followed by Manchester United on Sunday. Chelsea, on the other hand, host Sheffield United in the Premier League on Saturday.