Mkhitaryan turned down Liverpool because of Klopp

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Manchester United attacker Henrikh Mkhitaryan very nearly signed for Liverpool in 2013, but he decided to join Borussia Dortmund instead, then managed by Jurgen Klopp.

The Armenien shone in the Bundesliga and earned a bumper move to Manchester United in summer 2016, and he’ll face us today at Old Trafford.

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He couldn’t get in Jose Mourinho’s team early this season (for some reason), but has been wonderful recently and is a fixture in their side.

Ironically, if it wasn’t for Klopp, he might have joined us when Brendan Rodgers beelined for him – but he now plays for our arch rivals.

“He was always next to you if there were playing problems or life problems. He is a good person,” Mkhitaryan said of Klopp to the Daily Mail.

“In particular, he helped me a lot because I was thinking too much about football. I took defeats too seriously, I’d obsess about any chances I missed. He told me that it’s just life and I had to let it go because when the next chance comes, I needed to be in the right frame of mind to take it.

“I spoke two or three times on the phone to [Liverpool manager] Brendan Rodgers, he was saying he really wanted me and that I’d get to play with Luis Suarez and Steven Gerrard.

“Half of me thought I had to go there, the other half was not so confident, that the gap to the Premier League might be too big for a skinny player from the Ukrainian League.

“Two weeks later, Jurgen Klopp broke off his holiday on an island next to Denmark to come and see me in Dortmund. I knew he had a good reputation for working with younger players and, after we met, I felt more comfortable to sign for Dortmund. I think I made the right decision.”

Now though, Klopp’s pulling power will benefit Liverpool, although we’re unlikely to buy in January. That’s despite Sadio Mane’s AFCON absence and a number of injuries over the festive period.

Still, Liverpool’s boss knows what he’s doing, and we back him to make the right choices which will aid a potential title push from now until the summer.

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