New boy Georginio Wijnaldum claims Jurgen Klopp was a major factor in his decision to join Liverpool this summer, with a conversation he had with the German manager convincing him that Anfield was where he needed to be, as reported by Goal.
The versatile Dutch star joined the club for a fee potentially rising to £25m (via Goal), and looks to be an excellent signing. He had other offers on the table, but Klopp’s faith in him and the desire our manager showed in bringing him to the club was what tipped the scales.
He claims Everton were also showing an interest in him, but regardless of Klopp’s influence, who in their right mind would choose Everton over Liverpool? Now more so than ever in their current situation.
“It was straight after the conversation I had with Jurgen Klopp that I had the feeling that I wanted to come to Liverpool,” he said.
“Of course Liverpool is a big club with a good history. Everyone knows that.
“But there had to be a match. He’s in charge and if a great trainer like him wants you then it gives you more confidence to come to a club like this.
“There was interest from Everton yes, but Liverpool had more interest.
“Jurgen gave me a good feeling in that conversation. Straight after that I wanted to sign for Liverpool.”
The 25-year-old was asked what Klopp said to convince him to make the switch to Liverpool, and it was clearly the boss’ man management and motivational skills that got him through the door.
“In that conversation he made me feel really good. He gave me a lot of confidence because he said he liked my way of playing football,” he continued.
“He said I was a person he really wanted to have in his squad.
“Something like that is always good to hear. It made me happy, especially as it came from such a great trainer like Jurgen Klopp.
“He showed how good he is at [Borussia] Dortmund with all the success he had. It’s always great when a trainer of that kind of ability says he needs you in his team.”
We should get to see at least a little bit of Wijnaldum in one of our upcoming pre-season clashes during our US tour, and it will be fantastic to see how he links up with the rest of the team.
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There have been question marks over where exactly he’ll play in Klopp’s team, so it will also be interesting to see how the manager utilises him after talking him up so much and apparently showing so much faith in him.