Chelsea manager Frank Lampard says Jurgen Klopp’s comments about Chelsea’s transfer window spending are “slightly amusing”.

Liverpool boss Klopp said his club could not spend like Chelsea and were different from “clubs owned by countries and oligarchs”.

“I was less annoyed with it, I found it more, slightly amusing,” said Lampard.

Speaking before the start of the season Klopp, who has spent just £11.7m on Kostas Tsimikas this transfer window, said the Reds have had success “by being the club we are,” adding: “We cannot change that overnight and say ‘now we want to behave like Chelsea’.”

Klopp told BBC Radio 5 Live: “For some clubs it seems to be less important how uncertain the future is because they are owned by countries, owned by oligarchs, and that is the truth.

“We are a different kind of club. We reached the Champions League final two years ago, won it the following year and won the Premier League by being the club we are.”

But Lampard said: “Liverpool’s story – it’s a fantastic story of a club over four-and-a-half, five years that Jurgen Klopp’s been there that have managed to get recruitment right to a really high level.

“The reality is probably that other than Leicester, most clubs that win the Premier League have recruited well and recruited at a high level money-wise. You can go through the Liverpool players: Van Dijk, Alisson, Fabinho, Keita, Mane, Salah, incredible players, that came at a very high price.

“Liverpool have done it, and they’ve done it over a period of time. What we’ve done is come off the back of a ban and tried to address the situation to improve.

“We know Liverpool have spent at a high level, we know they have an incredible coach, we know they have incredible players.

“The really smart thing they have done is believe in their coach and system for a number of years. It’s a great story, but it’s story that has seen money spent on players.

“This summer we’ve spent money on players, and now the hard work has to be done.”

Klopp’s side finished 18 points clear of Manchester City as they won their first league title in 30 years, with Chelsea 33 points behind in fourth.

Chelsea were unable to make any signings last summer because of a Fifa transfer ban, but that was halved on appeal in December 2019 to allow them to bring in players from January this year.

Lampard’s side have signed Ajax winger Hakim Ziyech for £33.3m, RB Leipzig forward Timo Werner for about £48m, Bayer Leverkusen attacking midfielder Kai Havertz for £71m, Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell for £45m and also brought in Paris St-Germain centre-back Thiago Silva on a free transfer.