21 Sept 2016

Anfield Update: 'Extraordinary' £21m playmaker reveals transfer talk with 'Klopp'. Liverpool deal pursued over the summer

Over the summer, Liverpool were heavily linked with a move for Dortmund star Ilkay Gundogan, but although the Reds were reportedly favourites to seal the deal, the German playmaker ended up at Man City instead, with, it seems, Jurgen Klopp's blessing.

On Monday, Gundogan described Klopp as an 'emotional' manager, and revealed that Liverpool's manager played a big part in his decision to sign for Man City:

"I asked Klopp if the Premier League was right for me. He said 'yes', the playing style would be perfect for me. It was good to have my impressions confirmed."

Liverpool were definitely interested, and Gundogan confirmed this himself back in December:

"Liverpool have a good team, and a great coach. I want to deal with [my future] in a respectful way and will sit down with Dortmund and make a decision".

If Gundogan discussed his Prem move with Klopp, then given their mutual admiration - and the confirmed transfer link - there's a strong probability that they discussed a move to Liverpool.

With that in mind, why did Gundogan seemingly reject a reunion with Klopp? Given their prior working relationship, Klopp (in theory) had a massive advantage in transfer negotiations, but he still couldn't attract him to Anfield.

Would Gundogan be at Man City right now if Manuel Pellegrini was still in charge? Probably not. It seems that, in this case, that the force is stronger with Pep Guardiola, who, Gundogan claims is a 'genius'.

Clearly, in the battle between genius and emotion, genius wins every time, and Man City's start to the season under Guardiola arguably proves this.

For £21m, Gundogan would've been a superb signing for Liverpool...

^ Described by Klopp as an 'extraordinary player'.


0 Comments:

Post a Comment