Jurgen Klopp has urged football to ‘think about where the money’s coming from’ amid the threat to Chelsea’s future.
The Londoners have been plunged into a perilous state since the government froze owner Roman Abramovich’s assets over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Abramovich recently announced his plans to end a 19-year spell as Stamford Bridge’s benefactor but the UK’s sanctions have plunged a sale into doubt.
But Klopp believes those developments should lead to a greater scrutiny of the money trails behind seemingly free-spending regimes such as Chelsea.
He said: “I don’t think it’s really fair to ask me because you’re much longer in this country and did you care when Roman Abramovich came to Chelsea?
“Did anybody really, like really, care when Newcastle got taken over? Do supporters really care? That’s the question.
“I think it’s pretty obvious where the money’s coming so it’s like everybody knew it. But we accepted it. That’s our fault. It’s a society fault [because] we accepted it.
“Now obviously we think ‘Oh no, we cannot accept it anymore’ so then we punish them. It’s not Chelsea’s fault – not at all.
“I have no idea how a background check would look like in these moments but I can tell you that from the first day I came here [to Liverpool], I was really happy with our owners.
“In these times I’m even more happy because in the end, owners are there to lead the club, to give financial resources.
“When they want to make a benefit and we say ‘Oh, how can they make a benefit? They’re just here to give the money to football’ and all these kind of things.
“We don’t even think about where the money’s coming from and now we start obviously thinking where the money comes from, I think, is a good idea.
“To be honest, we should think about that a bit more.”