"Jürgen knew everything about me": Klopp signed a former Bundesliga player for Liverpool FC - and never played him

In a lengthy interview with *La Gazzetta dello Sport*, Manninger spoke not only about his time in Serie A and working with legends such as Antonio Conte and Gianluigi Buffon, but also about the final chapter of his career at the top English club Liverpool FC.

The then 39-year-old joined the Reds on a free transfer in 2016. His contract with FC Augsburg had expired after four years, and Jürgen Klopp was the manager at Liverpool at the time.

In 2016, the Reds signed 23-year-old Loris Karius from Mainz 05 for a transfer fee of around six million euros, whilst Belgian Simon Mignolet (29) was also in the Liverpool squad. Klopp, however, clearly wanted another experienced goalkeeper and remembered Manninger, who had driven him to the brink of madness two years earlier.

The Austrian explained: “It all started with a phone call. Jürgen knew absolutely everything about me. I’d beaten his Dortmund side with Augsburg two years earlier. He said: ‘I want that keeper.’ ‘You saved everything against us that day; now you have to do the same for me.’”

The match in question took place in early 2015 at Signal Iduna Park during Klopp’s final, disastrous season in Dortmund. BVB were bottom of the Bundesliga table at the time, and the clash with FCA marked the absolute low point of that campaign. The hosts lost 0-1 thanks to a goal from Raul Bobadilla, despite playing with a man advantage for over 25 minutes following Christoph Janker’s sending-off. However, they were repeatedly thwarted by the in-form Manninger.

A year and a half later, following a call from Klopp, he signed a one-year contract on the island, where he had once played for Arsenal. Yet he was never given the chance to make a save for Klopp in competitive matches. In the end, Manninger made zero appearances. “I never played. I was 40 and I was allowed to bid farewell to football in front of the fans at The Kop (Liverpool’s legendary stand at Anfield Road, ed.). That was a great feeling.”

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