Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he wanted to lure Christian Eriksen to Borussia Dortmund in 2013.
Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has told BT in Denmark that he targeted Christian Eriksen in the summer of 2013 during his time as Borussia Dortmund boss.
At the end of the 2012-13 season, Klopp and Dortmund were dealt a major blow as star playmaker Mario Gotze joined bitter rivals Bayern Munich in a shock deal, leaving Klopp with a massive hole to fill.
Whilst Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang arrived from Saint-Etienne to boost Dortmund’s attacking options, filling Gotze’s midfield role was key for Klopp.
In the end, Dortmund snapped up Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar Donetsk, with BBC Sport reporting that the fee involved was just shy of £25million.
Mkhitaryan went on to become a huge star at Signal Iduna Park, and earned a big move to Manchester United last summer off the back of his displays for Dortmund.
Now though, Liverpool boss Klopp has revealed how different things could have been, revealing that he also considered moves to land two current Premier League playmakers instead.
Klopp, speaking to BT in Denmark, admitted that he was keen on signing Christian Eriksen from Ajax, suggesting that anybody would love to have the Dane in their team.
Tottenham’s Christian Eriksen in action with Liverpool’s Georginio Wijnaldum
Eriksen joined Tottenham Hotspur later that summer for a fee of just £13.5million according to Sky Sports, and has been one of the Premier League’s top midfielders ever since his move, with five goals and eight assists in the Premier League this term.
Klopp added that Eriksen ultimately took a ‘great step’ by joining Tottenham, and noted that they chose Mkhitaryan over Eriksen and now-Manchester City ace Kevin De Bruyne after intense scouting of all three.
“Christian Eriksen is a great player; everyone would love to have him in their team,” said Klopp. “At that time we had three players [on our list] that we wanted – Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Kevin De Bruyne and Christian Eriksen.”
“We scouted all three of them intensely, but we knew that we could only get one and we were happy to get Mkhitaryan. Since then Eriksen has taken a great step in joining Tottenham and he is playing very well,” he added.
Would you rather have Eriksen, Mkhitaryan or De Bruyne?
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