Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he was shocked when he saw Ragnar Klavan playing for Augsburg against Borussia Dortmund, because he knew nothing about the defender, something he was unhappy about.
The German tactician, who replaced Brendan Rodgers as the Reds’ new boss last October, was the manager of Dortmund between 2008 and 2015.
On the other hand, Klavan joined Augsburg from AZ Alkmaar in 2012 and played against Klopp’s Dortmund on several occasions; the defender was roped in by the Reds from Augsburg in the summer.
The 49-year-old insisted he first saw Klavan at Augsburg and admitted his shock at not knowing a player of his calibre.
However, Klopp explained that he did not make a move for the Estonian international then as Dortmund were in no need of a centre-back.
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“With Ragnar it’s quite simple”, he said in a press conference on Thursday.
“The first time I watched him in the German Bundesliga was when Augsburg came up and he played for them. I saw him playing and then we played against Augsburg.
“He was always strong, I was surprised about Augsburg finding a player like him we didn’t know about before. I don’t like situations like this too much.
“Of course Augsburg are a wonderful club; we didn’t need a centre-back at Dortmund so I didn’t go for him.
“When you’re in the job and you don’t need anyone in that position, you don’t think too much about it.
“But when I came here and became aware of our situation, when I wanted to change in this situation, he was a very early idea because of his skills.”
Despite being 30 years old, Klopp thinks Klavan still has four to five years left in his tank at the highest level.
“He’s a really good defender with the plus of being a wonderful football player. Technically good, good passing, with the little issue that he’s not 21 anymore”, he continued.
“But that’s all, he still has four to five years to go.”
Klavan has thus far made three appearances in all competitions for Liverpool.
