Jurgen Klopp is happy to let Nathaniel Clyne depart Liverpool this summer, with Crystal Palace and West Ham United jostling to offer a former England international a fresh start according to the Mirror (21 May, page 59).
The history books will look back fondly on Clyne’s Liverpool career. The £12.5 million right-back has already conquered Europe with the Merseyside giants and, when the 2019/20 campaign is deemed safe to resume, he will be part of Liverpool’s first title-winning side in three decades.
Reality, however, paints a very different picture.
A series of horrible injuries have seen Clyne go from first-team regular to forgotten man under Klopp.
The £90,000-a-week England international is now a million miles behind Trent Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order and, perhaps most cruelly of all, he has not played a second of football during Liverpool’s Premier League charge.
With Clyne’s contract due to expire in July, he seems to have already played his final game in that iconic red shirt. Yet the 29-year-old’s relentless injury nightmare has not put West Ham or Crystal Palace off, with Klopp happy to shake hands and part ways this summer.
Clyne, of course, started his career at Palace as a youngster, departing Selhurst Park eight years ago to join Southampton. The chance to return to where it all began is surely to good to turn down, particularly as the Eagles have never really managed to replace Aaron Wan-Bissaka.
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