Napoli midfielder Jesper Lindstrom has opened up on his childhood admiration for Liverpool a few months after confirming that the Premier League giants had tried to lure him to Anfield.
Earlier this week, Napoli’s £25 million summer signing was likened to Zinedine Zidane. But not in a good way.
With Jesper Lindstrom enduring a difficult start to life in Italy, former Serie A stalwart Sergio Pellisier was keen to point out that the legendary Zidane did not exactly set the world alight in his early days at Juventus either, and we all know how that turned out in the end.
The man himself, meanwhile, is making no secret of his admiration for another iconic midfielder, even if he turned down the chance to follow in Steven Gerrard’s footsteps at Liverpool before signing a long-term deal at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Jesper Lindstrom turned down Liverpool move
“When I was little, I admired Gerrard from Liverpool a lot,” Lindstrom tells the Napoli website. “Because I was a Liverpool fan. Now, he’s stopped playing and I don’t have a real idol.
“I only think about myself and the team. I just want to play football.”
Lindstrom, who joined the Partenopei from Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga, hasn’t done too much of that of late. The stylish attacking midfielder has only started one Serie A game in 2023/24, with 15 of his appearances coming from the bench.
Ironically, it was concerns over his playing time – or a lack of playing time – that put Lindstrom off a move to his childhood club when Liverpool came calling.
Only one start so far
“There was Liverpool (who wanted to sign me). But would I get playing time? Would it be smart to go to Liverpool?,” Lindstrom muses, speaking to Tipsbladet. “I’m a Liverpool fan, it says so everywhere. So, it would also be an insanely cool experience.
“But if I’m not playing, I might as well sit and watch them on TV for another club. I’m at an age now where I have to play some football.”
The likes of Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo also rejected Liverpool last summer and have struggled since, with £16 million Wataru Endo proving to be far better value for money than the expensive Chelsea duo.
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