Say what you will about Brendan Rodgers but that couldn’t have been easy.
Especially for a man with as big an ego as he’s reported to have.
The former Liverpool boss revealed that he brought Jurgen Klopp into his home to welcome him to England and offer him any help as successor to the Brodge.
The Antrim man had just started out in his fourth season at Anfield when he parted ways with the club and the team he had been building. In his wake, an affable German came in and was unanimously greeted with open arms by every ‘Pool supporter on the planet.
It would’ve been easy to go into hiding, to wish Klopp the worst of luck. But if Rodgers thought he could help a peer, if he thought he could help Liverpool, he was there to do so.
He revealed on beIN Sports on Tuesday night how he brought the German around for a chat, much to Richard Keys’ amazement.
Brendan Rodgers: “I remember spending time with Jurgen when he first got the job and I had left. We sat and we spoke.”
Richard Keys: “Did you?”
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah… yeah, yeah.”
Richard Keys: “Well, that was very… I would say grown-up but that’s slightly condescending, isn’t it? But that’s very mature of you.”
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah. Listen, I had an incredible time at Liverpool. It’s a wonderful club and this was a guy who was coming in from another league and, you know, sit and have a chat…”
Richard Keys: “Where was that? At Anfield? On the training ground?”
Brendan Rogers: “No. At my house.”
Richard Keys: “Was it really?”
Brendan Rodgers: “Yeah!”
Richard Keys: “That’s amazing.”
Brendan Rodgers: “At my house. So… good guy and, you know, whatever help he would’ve needed going into the job as the manager, I was there for that.”
On the same topic though (you can watch the full video here), Klopp was defending Christian Benteke.
The Belgian has scored a number of important goals for the club since his arrival from Aston Villa and even plenty of screamers too but his inconsistency has frustrated Liverpool fans and his dip in form in recent weeks and made him public enemy number one.
Especially with the attacking crisis at the club at present.
But Rodgers said he had already spoken to Klopp about his summer signing and about how it takes time for even some of Europe’s top forward players to adapt to new surroundings.
“We were speaking about the patience element and we talked about Lewandowski,” he said. “In this Premier League, he wouldn’t have been given the chance that as he was given against Germany. In his first season, he scored eight goals. Can you imagine, as a striker, coming into the Premier League and scoring eight goals? You give them time.
“Aubameyang, as well, as a player now after three years is improving. Christian, I think, over time will show that he’s a top class player.”
