Jurgen Klopp has said he was denied the chance to visit Boris Becker during his stay in prison because the Liverpool manager was too great a security risk.
Becker, 55, was granted release from his UK imprisonment on December 15 after serving eight months of a two-and-a-half-year sentence for tax evasion-related charges. The tennis legend was sentenced in late April and incarcerated at HMP sites in Wandsworth and Oxfordshire.
Upon his return to Germany, Becker appeared in a television interview and said his 'good friend' was prevented from paying him a visit. And Klopp has since verified those claims, explaining that their communications were limited to phone calls during his confinement.
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"Unfortunately I couldn't visit him because according to the authorities I would have been a security risk if I visited," the Reds chief told Bild. "That's why it didn't work. But that’s no longer important either – what matters is that Boris is free again."
Klopp also commented that his compatriot "absolutely had to write a book" profiling his stints in HMP Wandsworth and HMP Huntercomb. In a recent interview with German broadcaster Sat.1, Becker said he even had one altercation with a fellow inmate whom he believed 'wanted to kill him.'
"He [Becker] then said: 'Yes, but I think … that no one believes what it's really like here,'" explained Klopp regarding his recommendation that Becker pens a new biography. "It was just particularly important to me to support Boris and to tell him that we won't let him down."
Three-time Wimbledon winner Becker declared bankruptcy in 2017 but was later found guilty of hiding £2.5million in assets and loans to avoid paying off his debts. He owed creditors more than £50m at the time, which included more than £3m from an unpaid loan on his Majorca estate.
It's understood Becker's release is contingent on him not returning to the UK as a visitor until the full term of his original sentence is complete. However, Klopp assured the six-time Grand Slam champion he will be greeted with open arms at Anfield.
"He should first get some rest," concluded the former Borussia Dortmund boss. "If Boris then wants to see a good football game, he's welcome to do so in Liverpool. Although he tends to support other clubs."
