It was a relatively low-key piece of Manchester City transfer business in August that, in many ways, best encapsulates the challenges now faced by Liverpool owners Fenway Sports Group.
The blockbuster capture of Erling Haaland earlier this year later led to Jurgen Klopp to all but name-drop the Norwegian as one of the reasons why Premier League clubs who aren't state-owned cannot really compete when it comes to the transfer market last month.
“You have the best team in the world and you put in the best striker on the market," Klopp said on the eve of City's October 16 visit to Anfield. "No matter what it costs, you just do it.
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"I know City will not like it, nobody will like it, you’ve asked the question, but you know the answer. What does Liverpool do? We cannot act like them. It is not possible. Not possible. It is just clear and again you know the answer."
But while Haaland's incredible start to life at the Etihad has inevitably hogged the spotlight and led to further discussion around what is possible for those not bankrolled by the billions of the oil-rich, it was City's capture of Manuel Akanji that sums it all up in a rather more cerebral and subtle manner.
It was late in the summer transfer window when Guardiola was forced back into the market for a new defender. Having reportedly considered his business to be complete, an injury to Nathan Ake in a 3-3 draw at Newcastle was the catalyst for City's owners to re-open the cheque book.
With Ake adding to the centre-back woes alongside Aymeric Laporte at the time, Guardiola was faced with heading further into the campaign with the potential for a defensive crisis, which is something Klopp himself knows all too much about, having played much of the 2020/21 term without any recognised senior players in that area.
For City's lack of centre-backs in the early weeks of this campaign, Liverpool also suffered a similar shortage in midfield with issues for Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and Naby Keita.
But while the Reds were forced to take a last-ditch gamble with a loan move for an unfit and out-of-favour Arthur Melo from Juventus on transfer deadline day - having previously signed Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak for the centre-half issues in January 2021 - City's own resolution to such a problem was far more proactive and decisive.
Guardiola, a manager who is fully aware of the power he wields within the Etihad ranks, went to his bosses and made his concerns over a lack of defenders very clear, it was reported this week.
With just John Stones and Ruben Dias available for the following weeks, the Catalan made it known he desired another centre-half to call upon, even if any new addition would eventually be relegated to fifth choice later in the year when his defenders were given a clean bill of health.
Rather than tell Guardiola to work with what he had for the relatively short-term period of absence for his walking wounded, the former Barcelona coach was instead backed firmly and within days Akanji's arrival from Borussia Dortmund had been completed to the tune of £17m - a knockdown fee that was largely determined by a contract impasse for the Switzerland international.
It's that sort of short-termism that would probably make Klopp bristle given his repeated responses to the contrary when it is put to him that his squad needs bolstering in the wake of growing injury issues. The Reds boss is of the belief that a five-year contract cannot be handed out to solve a temporary injury conundrum.
But the fact that City had the wherewithal to sign Akanji and ensure the prospect of Guardiola slamming square pegs into round holes was never going to become a reality speaks volumes about the two clubs' respective approaches. Or rather, their respective owners' capabilities.
That, quite simply, is not a luxury Klopp is always able to enjoy; one that is evidenced by Arthur joining as an emergency and cost-effective stopgap. The Reds boss has freely admitted that he would like to take "more risks" in the transfer market but accepts that it is his paymasters who ultimately make that call.
And while the high-profile signings of players like Haaland have surely formed part of thinking that has seen FSG privately concede the financial challenges of keeping pace with City are getting increasingly more difficult, opportunistic and reactionary deals for players like Akanji will only add weight to that school of thought.
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