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MARTIN SAMUEL: The bottom line is that Jurgen Klopp was wrong. City CAN’T spend what they want… Liverpool are not the underdogs here and their manager’s misdirection distracts us from the achievement of Pep Guardiola and his team

If Manchester City genuinely could, as Jurgen Klopp believes, do what they want, then Harry Kane would be their striker — as would Erling Haaland.

The fact is City did not do as they wanted over Kane, did not offer Tottenham the astronomical sum that would have made Kane’s transfer impossible to refuse.

Even on Haaland, they waited until his release clause was activated and bought him for a bargain £51.2million.

Doing what they wanted might have involved going a year earlier when Borussia Dortmund did not want to sell and paying double, or treble, ensuring they could not be gazumped by Real Madrid, or others.