Christian Heidel and Jurgen Klopp go way, way back.
Heidel was the man who originally decided to give Klopp his first job in management, around 16 years ago at Mainz.
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Now the director runs Schalke, while his friend and compatriot is in charge of Liverpool.
Schalke face Rb Leipzig at the weekend and Heidel has made a request to his former employee in the media: sign Naby Keita quickly so he can’t face us!
#Schalke – #Heidel zu #Keita „ich werde Kloppo gleich noch mal anrufen und ihm sagen, dass er schnell nach Leipzig fahren soll und ihn abholen muss😁😁“ #SSNHD
— Dirk g. Schlarmann (@Sky_Dirk) January 11, 2018
This translates directly, as: “I’ll call Kloppo again and tell him to go to Leipzig quickly and pick him up!”
This doesn’t necessarily mean a transfer is imminent, though it certainly fuels the fire, with the Echo reporting that Rb are now willing to let Keita join Liverpool, so long as we pay a premium fee now.
We ran a comparison piece earlier that shows statistically, Keita has more than enough potential to become the best central midfielder in the country.
Let’s hope we can get it done.