Former Liverpool left back Brad Smith has revealed that ‘contract situations’ saw him leave Liverpool at 18, before he was re-signed by manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Australian eventually departed for good in 2016, when he joined Eddie Howe’s Bournemouth side. He is currently out on loan in the MLS with the Seattle Sounders, but still has warm words for the Reds boss.
“We’ve not really kept in touch in recent times,” he said, as per The Daily Star. “When I first left, he did though. But every time I go back there with Bournemouth he’ll give me a big Klopp hug and we’ll have a little chat. He’s a great manager and I owe a lot to him. A great man.
“I owe a lot to Klopp for kind of bringing me back in and giving me a chance. He kind of shot my career up. Football’s a strange career. Obviously at Liverpool I was a lot younger and we had some contract situations when I was I think 18 or something. I left Liverpool and then I ended up re-signing when Klopp came back in. He really liked me, and I had my chance.”
OPINION
It’s nice to see a player who was let go by Liverpool, in the end, still having nice things to say about the club and the manager, in particular. Clearly there were some issues between Smith and the Reds, which saw him leave the club initially, but Klopp liked him enough to bring him back in and give him a chance to try and make a career for himself at Anfield. It didn’t work out for him, obviously, but it’s good to see that he has no hard feelings for the German. On the contrary, he credits Klopp for kick-starting his career and giving him a launchpad to prove himself on Merseyside, secure a move to Bournemouth and now a productive loan out in the United States. Smith was never going to be good enough to be a Liverpool regular, but it clearly means a lot to him that Klopp gave him every chance to proved that he could be. It didn’t play out like that, but there are obviously still warm feelings between Smith and the Reds boss.
