KLOPP’S SLY DIG AT BLUES OVER SPENDING

WHEN asked to comment on Todd Boehly’s spending spree yesterday, Jurgen Klopp suggested it best to ‘say nothing without my lawyer’ — and a quick glance down the team-sheet at Stamford Bridge helped understand why. Chelsea’s starting XI last night cost £488million, a few bob short of half a billion quid, and that still included four players who were either free transfers or came through the academy. The three starting January signings of Enzo Fernandez, Mykhailo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile set Boehly back nearly £230m. Mudryk only lasted until half-time. If that were not gilded enough, nearly £200m sat plucking splinters on the bench. ‘I don’t understand how it’s possible, but it’s not for me to explain how it works,’ said Klopp. Pep Guardiola couldn’t resist a pop either. The Man City boss was surprised, in the face of such spending, that Chelsea were not ‘a state club’. In fairness, he should know.