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Coach Jurgen Klopp had great affection for Japanese players.
The Japanese version of Red Bull shared Klopp's interview on its official SNS on the 26th (Korea time). In the one-minute interview video, the question was "Which Japanese player do you like the most?"
In response, Klopp said, `I like three players. Surprisingly, today I received a video message from my former player Shinji Kagawa. Simply put, without Kagawa, we could not have won the German Bundesliga at Dortmund. Because of Kagawa, I was able to win the championship with other players. Kagawa is my favorite player."
For Klopp, Kagawa is a special player. In 2010, Klopp hired Kagawa, who was playing for Cerezo Osaka when he was with Dortmund. This recruitment has become a stroke of genius. Kagawa showed great performance when he moved to Dortmund and immediately stood out. Kagawa grew to be the best attacking midfielder in the Bundesliga in the 2011-2012 season. Klopp and Kagawa reached the top of Germany by winning the league and the DFB-Pokal Cup at the same time.
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Coach Klopp also highly appreciated Takumi Minamino. He said "I met Minamino, he was such a versatile and wonderful player. That's why he's my second favorite player." Minamino also praised him. Coach Klopp signed Minamino in the 2020 winter transfer market. Minamino, who played for Red Bull Salzburg, met Liverpool in the European Champions League (UCL) and showed great performance, and Klopp immediately brought Minamino.
However, Minamino was not as successful as Kagawa. Minamino only spent time as a backup while not fully adapting to the Premier League (EPL). Still, Minamino has won the EPL, FA Cup, and Carabao Cup in Liverpool.
Finally, Klopp said, "I got an honorable opportunity to work with Japanese captain Endo Wataru, who was a perfect professional player and a wonderful man. I really liked working with Endo. It's my first club and also from Stuttgart, which I love the most in Germany. Endo was also captain in Frankfurt. We shared a lot of things with each other", he explained.
Klopp signed Endo in a surprise move last season. Liverpool fans expressed disappointment when Endo was recruited as a substitute for Fabinho, but Endo contributed to winning the Carabao Cup by performing better than expected.
Klopp said, `I would not have brought any trophies in my life without Japanese players. You'd better have a Japanese player in your squad, too," he added.
Coach Klopp has a very high evaluation of Asian players. It was an interview with the Japanese version of Red Bull, so there were many compliments for the Japanese players, but Klopp once spoke sincerely about Son Heung-min when he was in Liverpool. He once said, `One of the biggest mistakes in my life is not signing Son Heung-min,' and selected Son as one of the players he regretted not signing even after leaving Liverpool.
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
