Trent Alexander-Arnold’s lines “It means more” are boring. Liverpool vs. Man City: A Spending Debate

This weekend, Manchester City plays Liverpool FC. It will be Jurgen Klopp’s last Premier League match against the Blues before leaving Anfield.

There is a big title match between Manchester City and Liverpool in six days, and it’s Monday morning. The Liverpool side is already spending money early.

After beating Manchester United in the Manchester derby on Sunday, City fans will be able to talk about being from Manchester. Soon, though, all eyes will be on Liverpool in the Premier League, but not until Wednesday, when Chelsea play FC Copenhagen in an attempt to book a spot in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola said he would only think about Liverpool after the game in Copenhagen, but it looks like the Liverpool team is already getting excited for Sunday’s big title-race match, even though they have their own last-16 Europa League game in Prague on Thursday.

Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool this summer, and the club and its fans want to send him off with another Premier League title. They can still win up to four titles this season, as they did last week by winning the Carabao Cup. City and Liverpool have played each other a lot under Klopp and Guardiola. City has won four of the last five titles, while Liverpool has only won one.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, who scored at the Etihad earlier this season, says that City may have the trophies and titles, but Liverpool’s smaller winners’ medals are more important to their club because they spent less money to get there.

This is what the England full-back told Four Four Two: “It’s hard.” There’s only one way to describe City and their organization: they’re like a machine that’s made to win.

“As we look back on this time, they may have won more titles and been more successful than us, but our trophies will mean more to us and our fans because of how much money both clubs have had.” What’s more important to our fans is how we’ve built our team than how the other team has built theirs.

Alex-Arnold does have a point, though. Liverpool has spent less than City since Klopp took over (£803m vs. £1.28bn) and their net spend is lower (£254m vs. £692m). But Liverpool has spent a lot of money on players in the last eight years, so saying they are poor and careful not to spend too much doesn’t really fit the bill. They’re not even close to being short-staffed.

It costs a total of £337 million to sign Darwin Nunez (£85 million), Virgil van Dijk (£75 million), Alisson (£66 million), Dominik Szoboszlai (£60 million), and Naby Keita (£51 million). Guardiola paid £100 million for Jack Grealish, £77 million for Josko Gvardiol, £60 million for Ruben Dias, £60 million for Rodri, and £60 million for Riyad Mahrez. It’s safe to say that City’s signings have been more successful.

Both managers usually spend between £22 and 26 million on a single deal. In the last two summers, City have broken even, while Liverpool have spent a net of £147 million. Guardiola has spent £85m on each prize, while Klopp has spent £80m. When net spend is taken into account, Klopp’s £25m is less than Guardiola’s £46m, making the difference.

City has spent more money, but they have also won more. It doesn’t “mean more” or “less,” either. There were a lot of City fans in Istanbul in June. Did any of them think about net spend when Rodri scored that goal or Ederson made that last-touch save?

There’s no way they were.

Alexander-Arnold was looking forward to another title race between City and Liverpool, with Arsenal also very much in the running. “From the turn of the year, City switch it on and it’s a difficult machine to stop,” he agreed.

“But we’ve done it before, so there’s no reason we can’t do it again this season.” We’re happy to be a part of City and feel like we’re in a good spot. I’m sure they’ll be as driven as we are. The end will be very exciting.