Klopp reveals Arsenal midfielder he was desperate to sign

Karan Tejwani

• 5 Oct 2022 16:20 BST
• 3 min read

Jurgen Klopp has been speaking about Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard and revealed how he almost signed the midfielder when he was an emerging star in Norway.

The Liverpool boss has been full of praise for the player, and revealed how the chase went for him when he was still the manager of Borussia Dortmund.

Odegaard broke onto the scene when he was very young – at the age of 15 – and made a move to Real Madrid early in his career.

Things didn’t work out for him there, but matters have been different since having enjoyed great spells at Real Sociedad and Arsenal since then.

Klopp heaps praise on Odegaard rise

Klopp has praised him, and revealed the conversations he had to get him signed when he was the manager of Borussia Dortmund back in 2015.

“I really like him [Odegaard]. It’s easy these days,” Klopp told TV2. “It was a bit more difficult at the start of his career when he was at Real Madrid. Then it looked like it might not go his way. I was really disappointed by that, because we wanted him in Dortmund when he was very young.

“We had a long conversation when he was still a boy, together with his father. In the end he decided on Madrid, and that’s fine, but that’s why I’ve always followed him.

“It is very, very impressive. You can only imagine how many talents, huge talents, ‘crazy’ talents, I have seen over the course of quite a while in this industry. At the time, Martin was 15 years old and already playing in Norway. The whole world went berserk.”

Klopp then praised his rise after a difficult period at Real Madrid, and has suggested he has matched the expectations set on him early in his career.

“Until he was 15, he probably experienced no hardship. After that, a lot of things went against him. It makes him the person he is now, the man he is now, and the player he is now.

“I’m really happy that he has now become the player we all expected him to become. In fact, even better than that, if you will. He plays a massive role in an incredibly strong Arsenal team.”

Odegaard will lead Arsenal out against Klopp’s Liverpool team in the Premier League in this coming weekend as they look to maintain their place on the top of the table.