John Barnes has defended FSG ’s strict spending policy at Liverpool and said the inability to match rivals expenditure doesn’t necessarily put the team at a disadvantage.

Liverpool’s owners have typically failed to part with the lavish fees spent at other clubs and were lowest spenders in the Premier League last summer, while since 2019, Liverpool has been outspent by the likes Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brighton & Hove Albion on player transfers.

The Reds have spent less than third of what Chelsea have shelled out in the last five years and their net spend in that period is under half of the fees Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal have parted with. That has led to some frustration at times from Liverpool supporters, who feel the club could have picked up more silverware in recent years had it spent more on transfer fees.

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That’s not the view of Barnes though, who warns teams can quickly amass a surplus of players if they’re not careful.

“I think it must be a modern thing whereby people think the solution is spending money,” he said at a LiveScore fan event in Liverpool earlier this week. “Look at all the money spent by Chelsea and Manchester United and what have they done? It’s not about just spending money, it’s about finding the right players.

“The problem you have is that people are running it as a business and people say you should get rid of players but players aren’t leaving. So if you spend money you just end up having so many players and that is not the solution.”

With Liverpool top of the Premier League, flying in Europe and still involved in the domestic cup competitions, Barnes agrees with Arne Slot’s view that the team doesn’t need additions this month.

“All the problems… what problems? We’re top of the league and in Europe so why do we have to spend money? If you lose players, yes, but until you get players who are going to improve the squad what is the point of signing players in January?

“If you’re not going to get better players, particularly at Liverpool who are a big club, why sign players just for the sake of it? We have enough players, so they are not coming on. So I don’t think we have to sign anyone unless we lose somebody.”