Liverpool were linked with 32-year-old, now he could become a coach

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Perhaps the injuries were to blame after all. As the Premier League crown slipped from Jurgen Klopp’s mop of blond hair last season, the cynics appeared desperate to find an explanation for Liverpool’s collapse.

Perhaps things were growing stale, they asked, a team that had conquered Europe two years earlier in need of a refresh? Perhaps Klopp’s Liverpool tenure was going to end like his Dortmund reign, with an alarming slide down the table?

Then again, perhaps it was the injuries. The many, many injuries.

In fact things got so bad ten months ago, according to TEAMtalk, 31-year-old free agent Daryl Janmaat even entered discussions, on the same day Joe Gomez underwent knee surgery and joined erstwhile centre-back partner Virgil van Dijk on the sidelines.

Janmaat had been released by recently relegated Watford just four weeks earlier.

What happened to Janmaat since those Liverpool links…

So how are things looking, for Liverpool and for Janmaat, almost a year on? If it’s the short answer you’re looking for, much better.

With Van Dijk, Gomez and the underrated Joel Matip fit again – and with Ibrahima Konate joining from RB Leipzig to provide invaluable cover – Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League again.

Saturday’s topsy-turvy 3-3 draw at Brentford may have shone a light on a chink in the Liverpool armour but it’s worth remembering Klopp’s side had conceded just once in their previous top-five games.

Janmaat, however, has found his own fitness problems more difficult to navigate.

Now contracted to second-tier Dutch outfit ADO Den Haag, the former Newcastle United and Netherlands ace hasn’t played a single minute of football this season for a side sitting second in the Eerste Divisie table.

And with the 2021/22 campaign already looking like a write-off as far as regular game time is concerned, Janmaat is starting to look beyond life on the pitch.

“It’s great Daryl will focus specifically on our youth academy talent and share his experiences with our boys,” ADO academy director Albert van der Dussen tells AD.

Janmaat, he says, will help to coach the youth team while he recuperates from his latest injury blow.

“This fits in well with our philosophy to add players with the DNA of ADO Den Haag as a trainer to our youth academy,” Van der Dussen adds.

Funny how things turn out.