Jurgen Klopp’s remarks about Man City’s purchasing power, in the opinion of Gabby Agbonlahor, are the result of his frustration with Erling Haaland’s exceptional performance.
No one, according to Klopp, can match the financial clout of Newcastle, Paris Saint-Germain, and City, which are owned by Gulf states.
The Manchester club was not pleased with those remarks and asserted that they heightened tensions prior to their contentious match on Sunday at Anfield.
Klopp’s remarks, according to a briefing given to City, were “borderline xenophobic.”
The Liverpool manager vehemently denied those allegations, and a legal complaint was filed.
Agbonlahor, a former Aston Villa striker, thinks Klopp’s remarks weren’t xenophobic but rather the result of his frustration with Haaland.
Since moving from Borussia Dortmund to City, the striker has dominated the Premier League, tallying 15 league goals in just ten games.
Agbonlahor told talkSPORT Breakfast: “When you look at him, maybe he’s frustration at how good Haaland has done.
“If you look at both squads, Liverpool have been going toe-to-toe with Man City in the last three or four seasons and in the summer Haaland has come to City, Nunez has gone to Liverpool, yes they’ve signed Kalvin Phillips as well, but it’s not as if they’ve bought five or six more players.
“He’s just a bit frustrated with how his team have underperformed.
“Is it more frustration from Klopp at how good Haaland has done and Nunez hasn’t so far done as well.
“I don’t think he was trying to stoke the fire, it’s just a bit of frustration that in future transfer windows he knows he’s not got the money to go and buy Bellingham for £120million.
“Manchester City, if I was them, I probably would go and buy Bellingham.
“Ilkay Gundogan is in his 30s and they might say ‘yeah, we have got the power to go and buy Bellingham instead of Liverpool because we want him at our club and not yours’.”
When asked specifically about the comments over spending power, Agbonlahor added: “I think he’s got a point. You see Newcastle, Paris Saint-Germain, Man City, the amount of money they’ve got and the amount they can pay their players, the amount they spent on transfers.
“You can see where it’s coming from, but it’s just strange to hear it when he’s been going toe-to-toe with Manchester City.
“They beat Man City, I thought they were the better team. They were strange comments when you aren’t far behind them in the quality of the team.”
