Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HUGGY HERR!
Sepp: Klopp doesn’t shake hands... he just greets us with cuddle
KOP kid Sepp van den Berg reckons Liverpool’s young stars get all the love they need from Jurgen Klopp – thanks to the German’s habit of giving them all a cuddle.
The Liverpool boss has been hammered for turning his back on the FA Cup after sending out a team of teenagers to face Shrewsbury in a fourth-round replay on Wednesday night.
Under-23 coach Neil Critchley took the reigns, while Klopp (right) and his title-chasing squad enjoyed a winter break.
But Van den Berg has revealed how Klopp makes the youngsters coming through the ranks at Anfield feel just as important as Mo Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Co.
Van den Berg, an 18-year-old Dutch centre-back, made only his fourth senior appearance in the 1-0 victory which sent Liverpool through to face Chelsea. He said: “The warmth you feel, as a young player at Liverpool, is so special.
“I will tell you the best example of this. At other clubs, you arrive in the morning and people will say ‘Good morning’ or shake hands.
“But, here at Liverpool, you get a hug from the manager!
“Jurgen Klopp gives you a hug – and it’s those special little things that made all the young players feel appreciated and valued.
“That kind of warmth from the manager gives us the hope that we are all on the path to the Liverpool first team.”
Van den Berg, who arrived on Merseyside from PEC Zwolle for £1.3million in January 2018, was criticised for moving away from Holland at such a young age.
But his mind was made up once he met Klopp for the first time. He said: “I had the chance to go to Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven or Liverpool.
“I was amazed that such big clubs wanted to sign me and I thought PSV Eindhoven was a brilliant option for me because I have been a fan from a young age.
“But, once Liverpool came for me, I knew where I would go because I can only describe my feelings for the club as mega.
“It is such a big club, but, at the same time, it feels like a family club.
“Thanks to Klopp’s approach and vision, I am up against the best attackers in the world several times a week.
“He lets me train and play against Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
“That is something I could only have dreamt of in the past. These guys really belong to the very best attackers on this globe.
“Of course, it is hard. But when you are up against them every week and you learn some valuable lessons, then you only get better and stronger.”
The young Dutchman believes his Anfield peer group have proved – by beating Everton and Shrewsbury in the FA Cup – that the future at Anfield is as promising as the present.
He added: “There is a massive amount of talent in this age group.
“I don’t want to say we’ve now arrived on the big scene because every one of us knows that we still have a mountain to climb.
“But the average age of the team against Shrewsbury was 19.
“We are massively proud of what we achieved on the night and we all talked about it afterwards.
“The topic of our conversations was that we all want to get into the first team together one day.”