Jürgen Klopp would welcome Sven-Göran Eriksson to Liverpool so the Swede can live out his dream of being the club’s manager for a day after his terminal cancer diagnosis.
There have been calls to allow Eriksson to be manager for a Liverpool Legends match against Ajax in March. The 75-year-old, a Liverpool supporter, says he always wished to manage the club but the opportunity never arose in an extensive career that took in spells in charge of England, Lazio and Manchester City among many others.
“I heard for the first time about his admiration or love for Liverpool and that he was a fan for his whole life,” Klopp said. “He’s very welcome to come here and he can sit in my seat in my office and do my job for a day if he wants – that’s no problem. To have him here and show him everything and how this wonderful club developed over the years, I think that’s definitely something we will tell him. He can come over and have a few wonderful hours here I’m sure.”
Klopp will be without Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai at Bournemouth on Sunday but will be relieved that Mohamed Salah’s injury suffered with Egypt is not serious.
It was confirmed on Friday that Salah suffered a hamstring strain during Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations draw against Ghana. The forward will miss his country’s next two matches at the tournament but Egypt are confident he will return if they progress further than the round of 16. It had been feared Salah could face a lengthier absence for club and country. “It was in that moment a shock: ‘Oh my God, what is it?’” Klopp said before the extent of the issue had been confirmed. “We all know how rarely Mo goes off or needs to go off so there is definitely something and we will see.”
Amid injury concerns, the emergence of a number of academy graduates has strengthened the squad’s depth and enabled the club to avoid entering the transfer market. Klopp picked out Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah when assessing his options.
“When the pre-season started they looked ready from the first game,” Klopp said. “It’s always the same thing: ‘You have to buy a right-back so Trent can play in midfield; you have to buy a centre-half.’ But we have Conor, we have Jarell. It’s not a popular opinion but if we had bought a right-back or centre-half, these boys would not have shown [their ability].”
Klopp will come up against Andoni Iraola for the third time on Sunday after a 3-1 home win in the league and a 2-1 Carabao Cup victory at Bournemouth. Iraola’s team have lost once in their past eight league games after failing to win any of their opening nine fixtures after replacing Gary O’Neil. “I’m pretty sure at Bournemouth they smiled a lot recently and thought: ‘Oh my god it worked out,’” Klopp said. “It was brave and it worked out – I like that a lot. I respect that a lot. You can really see the impact of a coach and that always has my respect.”
