Jurgen Klopp as revealed that he's 'always followed' Martin Odegaard after failing to sign the midfielder from his time at Borussia Dortmund. Arsenal are set to welcome Liverpool to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday, so the Gunners captain will, naturally, be looking to impress when the two sides meet this weekend.
Seven years ago, Odegaard was the most coveted player in the world with a handful of Europe's leading club's pursuing the then-16-year-old's signature. The German giants were said to have been among a number of sides in the race but it was Real Madrid who completed the transfer.
Now, the midfielder is captain for club and country and arguably one of the Premier League's top players. Despite having missed out on the Norwegian, Klopp insists that he’s ‘really happy’ for Odegaard's progression.
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"I like him a lot, that’s easy in the moment I think," Klopp said of Odegaard in an interview with TV2. "It was a bit more difficult at the start of his career at Madrid, it didn’t look like it would work out.
"I was really disappointed about that because we wanted him at Dortmund, we wanted him as well when he was very young, we had a long talk when he was a kid still, with his dad, in the end he decided for Madrid, that’s fine," the Liverpool boss added.
"That’s why I’ve followed him always, I’m really happy he’s become the player we all expected him to be, and even better if you want, he has a massive role in an unbelievably strong Arsenal team. He’s still young, clear mind, very influential, cannot say anything negative about him, to be honest. A top player."
Then, when asked how impressive it has been to see the Gunners skipper grow into a top player, Klopp replied: "Very impressive because you can imagine in quite a while in the business I’ve seen a lot of talent, massive talents, crazy talents, for Martin at the time I think he was 15, I think he was playing in the first league in Norway, the whole world went mad.
"Maybe I’m not sure, you’ll have to ask him, but maybe I was too honest that time because I told him he’s still a kid, school, all these kind of things, fine, but we want to be the environment where he can grow. If you compare Dortmund to the city of Madrid, as nice as it is, Madrid… maybe I would’ve made the same decision, but I would’ve loved that time if he joined us.
"But it’s all fine, that’s not important. Until he was 15 probably nothing went against him in his way, from that moment on a lot of things went [against] in his way, it makes you the player you are now, the human being you are now, the man you are now, and I think they are pretty happy with how it went."
Klopp's confession to closely following Odegaard follows Liverpool's search for a new midfielder. The Reds were in the market for a new midfielder in the summer but a move of any value failed to materialise.
Speaking to the media ahead of Liverpool's Premier League clash with Newcastle, Klopp possibly alluded to this failed deal. He said: "We were going for a midfielder but that midfielder decided to go to another club. That can happen. Some players are not available now but for us really interesting. That's how it is - so we can make that decision."
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