Mourinho questions Klopp over Van Dijk signing

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has questioned Liverpool’s Juergen Klopp over his club’s decision to sign defender Virgil van Dijk for a record fee by reminding him he was once critical of Paul Pogba’s move to Old Trafford.Dutchman Van Dijk is expected to join Liverpool from Southampton as the world’s most expensive defender with British media reporting the deal to be worth 75mn pounds ($101.4mn). Klopp had spoken about United’s transfer spending and their world record signing of Pogba for 89.3mn pounds in 2016, saying he would do it differently if he had the same resources at his disposal at Anfield.“I think the one that speaks about it in a specific way has to be Juergen, and if I was one of you I would ask him about his comments about one year ago,” Mourinho told a news conference yesterday.“The reality is that if they think that the player is the right player for them and they really want the player, they pay his amount or they don’t have the player because that is the way the market is at that time. Virgil van Dijk is the most expensive defender in history of football, was he better than (Paolo) Maldini, (Giuseppe) Bergomi or (Rio) Ferdinand? You cannot say that. It is just the way the market is and you pay or you don’t pay.”Klopp has been surprised by the development in the transfer market. “The last half year changed everything. It’s about need and opportunity,” he told reporters yesterday.“If you want to sign a player the last thing I think about is the price — that’s not because I throw money around but it’s about the player. Not nice but that is the market. We have to adapt. That’s how it is.”Second-placed Manchester United are 15 points behind runaway leaders Manchester City and Mourinho said this week his club will need to make bigger investment to be able to produce a team that could challenge for the Premier League title.Ahead of today’s home game against Southampton, Mourinho admitted Romelu Lukaku is running on empty but he could not afford to give his striker a rest. After opening his United career with 11 goals in 10 games, Lukaku has scored just four times in his last 19 but has, nevertheless, been required to play every minute of his club’s Premier League campaign due to the continued fitness struggles of fellow striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.Worse than that, Lukaku has been involved in errors in his own penalty area in recent weeks that have led to goals for Manchester City and Burnley - an indication, according to Mourinho, of possible fatigue. But the United manager steadfastly refuses to criticise the Belgian striker, not least because he admits that he is unable to offer him any sort of rest in the foreseeable future. “I think for a striker, any player, he’s absolutely incredible, but if you are a central defender, a holding midfield player, where you can control your energy, positional play, you can resist, survive,” Mourinho added. “But for a striker to play 20 matches in the Premier League, 90 minutes, I have to be grateful.” Mourinho tried to partner Lukaku and Ibrahimovic in the same starting line-up in Tuesday’s draw with Burnley, only to abandon the experiment at half-time with United trailing 2-0. And he admitted that with both stars struggling for form at present, he will not be able to pair them in the near future.