Manchester United vs Liverpool: Brendan Rodgers praises Louis van Gaal's transfer business ahead of Sunday showdown

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has praised Manchester United's summer transfer business ahead of their clash against the Red Devils at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The Reds and their arch rivals United were two of the busiest clubs in England during this summer's transfer window and both spent in excess of £100m to strengthen their team. But, it has been the Manchester based team that has got the better of their summer arrivals thus far this campaign.

Louis van Gaal, whom Rodgers has labelled a 'very experienced manager,' went out and managed to capture all his primary targets, Angel di Maria, Luke Shaw, Ander Herrera, Daley Blind, Marcos Rojo and Radamel Falcao, whereas the Liverpool boss lost out on his main target Alexis Sanchez, who chose to move to Arsenal rather than to the Merseyside club.

However, the Northern Irishman spent all the money they received following the sale of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and brought in eight new players to strengthen his team. Despite that, the Anfield club has struggled to match the heights they reached last season, and currently find themselves mid-table in the Premier League and knocked out of the Champions League in the group stages.

But the former Swansea City manager insists that he is not bothered about what other clubs do around them. His main focus is to make sure his club remains solid with the work they do.

"For us at Liverpool we don't compare to anyone, we look to ourselves and all you can do is make sure you remain solid inside of your work," Rodgers said, as quoted by talkSPORT.

"There will always be things written on the outside and spoken about by people paid and unpaid to be critics but you can't really affect that."

"They [United] have some outstanding players. They had a good squad before that but they have brought in some very good players and got a very experienced manager leading them," the Reds boss added.

"But my focus is only on the players we were able to get and work with them."

While United focused on buying players who will make an immediate impact on the team, the Liverpool manager chose to splash the cash on younger players with future potential.

Rodgers defended the strategy which was employed by the club when it comes to recruitment, but insists that they did try to sign current stars as well, but did not manage to land them.

However, the manager is confident that they have the necessary means to improve their current crop and turn them into the top-class talents they are.

"That is what the club tried to do."

"It wasn't for the want of trying that the club looked to do that but we end up with the squad we have and we will improve those players with the staff like we have done over the last couple of years," the 51-year-old manager explained.

"We believe there is talent which has come into here that will grow over the next number of years to show they are top-class talents. Consequently the team will improve," Rodgers concluded.