Klopp is over the moon that Wijnaldum chose to join Liverpool, as he knew how hard Tottenham were pushing to land the midfielder and was equally aware of the lure to work with his compatriot Ronald Koeman at Everton.
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Now Wijnaldum, who is set make his first appearance for Liverpool in Wednesday’ s friendly against Chelsea in Pasadena, has given an insight into how Klopp convinced him to ignore all the other offers and buy into his project at Anfield.
He said: “In that conversation he made me feel really good”. ‘He gave me a lot of confidence, he told me he liked my way of playing football and that he wanted to have me in his squad. He is a great trainer.
“He showed how good he is at [Borussia] Dortmund with all the success he had”.
‘Straight after the conversation I had with him, I made my mind up.
“I can’t wait to get him on the training pitch and for the fans to see him play in a Liverpool shirt”.
“Of course Liverpool is a big club with a good history”.
He said it is up to him and his new teammates to make the manager’s selections “difficult for him”, adding: “Everyone wants to play, we need to train well and then he will decide on the line-up”.
“There was interest from Everton but Liverpool had more interest. He gives something back to the group (with his passion) so I look forward to working with him”.
Wijnaldum also revealed that Rafa Benitez spoke to him prior to the move, and although he was desperate for him to remain in the north east, he ultimately conceded that Liverpool were a “big club” and understood the desire to move on, as noted by The Echo.
Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman were both lining up approaches for the 25-year-old, but Klopp has tracked Wijnaldum’s career since he was a teenager, and provided the versatile midfielder with a catalogue of reasons as to why he’d slot in effortlessly at Liverpool.
He explained that Klopp told him he was a player and a person he “really wanted to have in his squad” which the No.5 called “always good to hear” and said made him “happy”.
“He didn’t say anything like ‘Liverpool is a big club, you have to go there”.
“When we were good with the ball, passing and moving, overlapping, things like this, in the end we didn’t finish it off enough”, said Klopp, displaying his typical honesty and directness. Now I am here.
“We as players must make it hard for him”.
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That’s according to Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, who has praised the club’s owners FSG for their financial backing this summer, after spending an estimated £70million on new players, with some of that cash gained from player sales.
