One of Jurgen Klopp’s greatest strengths is his ability to make the players who aren’t featuring regularly still feel like they’re a massive part of our success.
In reality, he doesn’t really switch much from his tried and trusted side in the Premier League and Champions League. The only area for rotation is midfield – and if Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum are all fit – they’re the ones who’ve started over the past two seasons.
But you never hear the likes of Divock Origi, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Joel Matip complaining, do you? Not even Xherdan Shaqiri, all but frozen out by Klopp when it comes to first-team consideration, talks rubbish in the media.
Yet the agent of new Manchester United signing Donny van de Beek, Sjaak Swart, has ALREADY thrown his toys out of the pram regarding the fact his client was on the bench for the Brighton game – the SECOND of their PL season…
In the tweet below, you can read his quotes – which would make us as a fan fume – in short.
"A substitute, I don’t like it at all." 😠
Donny van de Beek's agent is NOT happy with Manchester United 😯 pic.twitter.com/1AoO2GvKzZ
— GOAL (@goal) September 29, 2020
Liverpool were very close to signing Nabil Fekir in 2018, but we pulled the plug on the deal not solely because of a failed medical – but because his agents were becoming troublesome and making extravagant demands.
The club thought, ‘no, not for us,’ and moved on – even when the Frenchman had already done his Signing Day interviews.
For Jurgen Klopp, the culture is as important as any new singing – and every potential arrival is vetted for their character and the people around them.
Can you imagine Takumi Minamino’s agent coming out back in February and kicking off at Klopp for a perceived lack of minutes?
Of course not – it wouldn’t happen.