Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool will need to continue to spend big money on the right players in order to keep challenging Manchester City for the Premier League title over the next few years.
Klopp famously hit out at Manchester United's big money move for Paul Pogba, but has since had to change his tune having spent big money on his side over the last couple of years.
Bringing in Alisson Becker, Fabinho and Naby Keita was part of an outlay of £170m last summer, adding to the £75m he already spent on Virgil van Dijk in January, although it paid off as the Reds lifted the Champions League in Madrid.
It was not enough to capture the Premier League title though despite a record effort, and Klopp says the club will need to spend again to avoid falling back into the pack.
Liverpool have not yet added to their squad this summer, but Klopp has shown previously that he's willing to wait for the right player, and he's also proved Liverpool aren't afraid of spending big money.
"Liverpool is an ambitious club and if we didn't spend the same amount of money as others, we wouldn't be able to compete," Klopp said on a documentary on German broadcaster ZDF. "Everybody's splashing the cash, so we have to do the same."
In the documentary, aired last month and translated by Tom Weber, Klopp stood by his previous comments about the money spent on players but admitted it was now the way of modern football.
"Back when I was in Germany, Bayern had a bottomless pit of money, like £100m," he added.
"In today's market, that gets you one centre-back. So this bottomless pit of money is enough to buy one player in today's world and that doesn't even cover their wages.
"The market has changed more than I expected, but I stand by what I said.
"Maybe things were lost in translation but my point was, if we reach a point where football is solely about money and not football, then I'm leaving; and I still feel the same way about it."
