Nuno Espirito Santo has hit back at Arne Slot’s spending jibe and claimed that ‘money doesn’t play football’.

Both managers were speaking ahead of Tuesday’s Premier League clash between Nottingham Forest and Liverpool, which pits first against third in the table. A win for Liverpool would help create a nine-point game to the East Midlands club, but a home win at the City Ground would breathe extra life into Slot’s claims that Forest is in the title race.

The Dutchman was extremely complimentary when discussing the opposition in his pre-match press conference and said Tuesday’s game will be a ‘very difficult challenge’, while he reflected that, in hindsight, September’s 1-0 loss to Forest at Anfield doesn’t seem like the disaster it did at the time.

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“They are doing really good and Nuno is doing an incredible job, but if you look at the amount of money they have spent it is perhaps not a complete surprise that they do well this season,” Slot added.

Forest has a net spend of $263 (£216m) since returning to the top flight in 2022 in comparison to Liverpool’s $174m (£144) in the same period. Forest was also docked points for breaching Profit and Sustainability Rules last season and the Slot’s comments clearly ruffled a few feathers in Nottingham.

“I don’t know the spending, I don’t know the value. That doesn’t happen,” Santo said in response.

“I look at the player as a human being and how I can make them better. How can I make you better? Money doesn’t play football, people do. It’s not my issue, we are not concerned about the price tag of things.”

Santo was also asked in his pre-match briefing if he felt Slots claims that Forest is in the title were mind games. “I don’t know. We try as much as possible to ignore what’s around,” he replied.

“We try as much as possible to ignore what’s around. When we do things good, we should be pleased but too many compliments can distract us. Maybe it was a surprise [when Forest won at Anfield] but it was a long time ago, many things have changed. It’s a new game.”