Liverpool head coach Arne Slot is happy he has a team which can compete with bigger-spending Premier League rivals.
The nine-and-a-half year contract Erling Haaland signed with Manchester City on Friday, which is reported to be worth £500,000 a week to the Norway striker, was a reminder of the financial power a select number of top-flight clubs have.
It sits in stark contrast to Liverpool’s current situation with three of their top stars Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold out of contract in the summer.
Their combined weekly wage is estimated at £750,000, with Salah the highest earner in the club’s history with a weekly pay packet of £350,000.
And while City are pushing through a January mini-rebuild for at least four players which could exceed £150million the likelihood Liverpool will make a significant move remains slim.
Asked whether City’s financial power meant his Premier League leaders cannot afford to drop their own high level of performance, Slot said: “Not particularly about the investment but we know how good we have to be every single day to compete in this league.
“It is not only the club you are referring to, Chelsea also spend £1.2billion, (Manchester) United spends an incredible amount.
“Every team spends a lot of money over here, that’s why it’s such an interesting league to be part of.
“Some season this club spends a bit more, other seasons other clubs spend a bit more. That’s what makes this league so intense and so difficult to win.
“But that’s also the reason why we want to be here: you want to compete against the best, with the best, and we are very happy with the team we have at the moment and we are still able to compete with all the teams that are spending incredible amounts of money.”
Slot is likely to be without Diogo Jota, who came off the bench in midweek to snatch at point at Nottingham Forest, for the trip to Brentford after he reported some discomfort after the game and trained separately from the main squad on Thursday.
However, fellow forward Luis Diaz is expected to be fit after illness forced him to miss the session.
“There’s no doubt about the fact that Jota is an important player for us. He was not in training yesterday so we have to see today where he is,” added the Dutchman.
“It’s not sure that he will be available for tomorrow. We have to wait and see, He felt a little niggle during the half-hour he was in, he could finish the game but he afterwards he complained a bit about it.”
The Portugal frontman has started just two matches since October, having been sidelined with a chest injury for almost eight weeks.
Jota has a chequered injury record, having missed 66 matches over the last two and a half seasons, but Slot said the striker was not receiving any special treatment in relation to that.
“Every single player has an individual programme. I’ve said before that 80 to 90 per cent of the things are the same for players,” said Slot.
“But every individual has things he wants to improve or to prevent him from maybe getting a certain injury he may have had in the past.
“Of course, there is an eye on him (Jota) doing some individual work to prevent him from getting injured, but that’s not only with him.
“With all the others it’s the same. There is a special programme for him as there is for every single player.”
Slot also gave his backing to misfiring striker Darwin Nunez, who has scored once in his last 12 appearances.
“It is not my perception that he is struggling with self confidence,” said the Dutchman.
“For me it is the life of a striker: sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t and he hasn’t started every single game.
“Darwin will score his goals like he did for this club already. I don’t see him struggling that much as the way you see it.”
