Jurgen Klopp has reacted to the reception Trent Alexander-Arnold received from some Liverpool supporters during the home draw with Arsenal
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Jurgen Klopp holding a signed Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool shirt, which raised £22,000 in the auction for the LFC Foundation
Jurgen Klopp holding a signed Trent Alexander-Arnold Liverpool shirt, which raised £22,000 in the auction for the LFC Foundation
(Image: Martin Rickett/PA))
Jurgen Klopp has criticised the Liverpool fans who booed Trent Alexander-Arnold after admitting he had never been so disappointed in their actions. The legendary former Reds boss, who is beloved on Merseyside after winning the Champions League, Premier League, the FA Cup and League Cup in a nine-year spell at Anfield that ended last summer, said he switched off the television when he heard the jeers.
Unlike his successor Arne Slot, who said it was not his place to tell supporters how to react, Klopp said when referring to the reception the departing Alexander-Arnold received in the 2-2 draw home to Arsenal earlier this month: "I don't want to tell anyone what they should think, I don't want to say what you have to think but I can tell you what you think is wrong. I am an old man and I don't waste time with hiding my opinion.
"I watched the game when he came on and I heard the booing. I'm old so it my be my hearing so I turned up the volume and said: 'That's booing'.
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"I needed another 10 seconds to realise and then I switched the telly off. I honestly could not have been more disappointed in this moment. This is not us, 100 per cent.
"I don't tell you you should not be disappointed or angry, I tell you: 'Don't forget'. This club does not forget. We are famous for not forgetting.
"We don't forget anything. We don't forget the good thing and we don't forget the bad thing. But we ignore the bad things and remember the good things.
"You don't have to be happy he is going but don't forget what he did for this club because I can't forget it."
Alexander-Arnold has decided to bring an end his 20-year association with Liverpool when his current contract expires in the summer and is expected to sign for Real Madrid.
Klopp, speaking at the LFC Foundation Gala Ball at Liverpool Anglican Cathedral last night (May 23), said the Academy graduate was well within his rights to do that and if anyone had the right to be angry it was the club's owners Fenway Sports Group as it was their multi-million asset who was leaving on a free transfer.
"I was there every day – if he wouldn't have given everything, I would tell you now but every day he gave absolutely everything for this club and now, after 20 years, he has decided he wants to go somewhere else," added Klopp, who said he had contemplated attending Sunday's final match of the season, at home to Crystal Palace, in an Alexander-Arnold shirt but did not want to detract from the Premier League trophy presentation.
"If someone should be angry it should be the owners – but they are not. 'Why didn't he sign a new contract?' I hear this from fans, this money discussion: 'He goes without a transfer fee'.
"They (the owners) have to be angry. Not us but it is not about that. He gave absolutely everything and wears the Liverpool badge in the skin.
"This boy, 18 years old, scored a free-kick in Hoffenheim where if he doesn't score that we don't qualify for the Champions League.
"Against Barcelona he did the most cheeky thing in the world and set up the goal for 4-0, a result and a game which will not happen again.
"But now he plays next year for another club and we decide how we deal with that."
Liverpool were crowned Premier League champions last month with four games to spare after winning 5-1 at home to Tottenham Hotspur. They will lift the title on Sunday after the visit of FA Cup winners Palace.