A former Liverpool player has said that he opted for a move to Anfield in favour of ‘many offers’ because of the presence of one man at the club.
In August 2012, the Reds secured the services of Nuri Sahin on loan from Real Madrid, although he spent just five months on Merseyside before the deal was cut short and he was duly loaned to Borussia Dortmund.
The 36-year-old is now the manager of the Bundesliga giants, and on Tuesday night he comes up against Celtic and his former LFC boss Brendan Rodgers, who he credits as the main reason for him choosing to join Liverpool 12 years ago.
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The ex-Turkey midfielder told TNT Sports ahead of that Champions League clash: “Of course [it will be nice to see him] when you have a history together, even if it was a very short time that we worked together, but I enjoyed the training sessions with him.
“I enjoyed the idea of football that he had. It was also the reason why I chose Liverpool back in the day, from many offers I had.”
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Sahin appeared to be a significant coup for Liverpool in 2012, especially having finished a lowly eighth the previous season, but unfortunately his loan move to Anfield didn’t go to plan for any of the parties concerned.
The midfielder played just 12 times under Rodgers and, shortly after leaving Merseyside to return to Dortmund, he admitted that he wasn’t happy during his brief spell with the Reds (GOAL).
Admittedly LFC were on a low ebb in the early 2010s – that season was the fourth in a row in which they didn’t even finish in the top five of the Premier League – but it was a shame that we never saw the best of a player who was gifted enough to play for several of Europe’s biggest clubs.
It’s nonetheless nice to see that, more than a decade on, Sahin can reflect with some positivity on his time at Liverpool, and working with Rodgers in particular.
Here’s hoping that the 36-year-old goes on to have a prosperous career in management – he must be doing plenty right if, at such a young age, he’s landed a prestigious job at a club who reached the Champions League final this year.
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