His final act of note for Liverpool was to leave Manchester United’s Fred on his rump.
Back in 2013, Liverpool swooped in for Valencia’s U18 captain and a player capped 15 times by Spain’s U17 side, captaining them on five occasions.
Real Madrid were said to be monitoring the situation but Pedro Chirivella headed to Liverpool. Likened to Liverpool legend Xabi Alonso, the young midfielder moved to Anfield to emulate his Spanish idol.
Brendan Rodgers was a year into his tenure, at the time, and was said to be instrumental in securing Chirivella’s services. He signed an academy contract and lined out for the Reds’ U19 side in his first season. In the summer of 2014, Real came back for more but Liverpool repulsed all enquiries by offering him a professional contract.
Ahead of the 2015/16 season, the Spaniard was included in the squad for tours to Asia and Australia. He made his first appearance in a friendly against HJK Helsinki and, in September 2015, made his competitive debut against Bordeaux in the Europa League.
Wearing the No.68 jersey, Chirivella replaced Kolo Touré and played centre defender in a 1-1 draw, away from home. His next appearance would be in the FA Cup, in January 2016, but Rodgers was gone by then.
Jurgen Klopp had to work with the tools/players he inherited from Rodgers when he took over in October 2015. Chirivella went on to play four times for Klopp that reason [five in total] but was loaned out to the Dutch Eredivise twice in 2017/18 (Go Ahead Eagles and Willem II).
The versatile midfielder must have felt he had a chance to make a first team breakthrough when, having featured in pre-season games against Bury and Tranmere, Klopp included him in his squad to tour the United States. Now 21, Chirivella featured against Manchester United after coming off the bench for the second half.
Funnily enough, one of his final acts for Liverpool was to help them to a 4-1 victory… and leave United’s new signing Fred on his back-side. In an 86th minute coming together, the Spanish midfielder easily fended off the Brazilian before sauntering clear and passing to a teammate.
£62m gets put on his arse by Chirivella. https://t.co/ckSnv33Efm
— The Anfield Talk (@TheAnfieldTalk) July 28, 2018
Not a bad way to sign off but it may just be a case of ‘Au Revoir’.
Liverpool are selling Chirivella to Norwegian side Rosenberg for £3.5m but they are including a buy-back clause in the deal. Should he hit his stride with Rosenberg, Liverpool will have first refusal if he is ever up for sale again.
