5 players who you didn't know played under Jurgen Klopp
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has established himself as one of the best and tactically astute managers in modern football. The German manager has lifted nine major trophies in his career.
Klopp began his managerial career at his boyhood club Mainz. He took up the job right after calling time on his playing career and steered the relegation-threatened side to safety. By his third full season at the club, Klopp helped the 2. Bundesliga club achieve their first-ever promotion to the top flight.
He spent four more years at Mainz before joining German giants Borussia Dortmund in 2008. He won five trophies with Black and Yellow and also reached the final of the Champions League in 2013.
Klopp then joined Liverpool in 2015. Despite struggles in his early seasons at the Merseyside club, won the Champions League with the Reds in 2019. He then went on to win the Premier League the following season, the Reds' first league title in 30 years.
In an illustrious career spanning over 20 years, several individual accolades accompanied him. Klopp has undoubtedly placed himself among the elite managers of this generation. While the German deserves a large amount of praise, it is no surprise that he has managed some of the best players in the world across his three managerial stints.
Names like Robert Lewandowski, Sadio Mane, Marco Reus, Mario Gotze, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk amongst others are the big names that are famous for achieving much success under Jurgen Klopp. However, some lesser-known players have played under the German at one stage of his career or another.
On that note, let's take a look at five players who you might not know played under Jurgen Klopp.
#5 Kevin Kampl
Kampl is better known for his time at RB Leipzig, with the Slovenia international being a mainstay in midfield for the Red Bulls since his arrival in 2017. However, Kampl had a rather bizarrely short stint at Borussia Dortmund back in 2015.
The then 24-year-old joined Borussia Dortmund under Jurgen Klopp for €12 million from RB Salzburg. He joined Dortmund in the January transfer window while the club were undergoing a very difficult spell sitting 17th in the Bundesliga on his arrival.
The midfielder managed 16 appearances in all competitions and helped Borussia Dortmund manage a seventh-place finish at the end of the campaign. Klopp then departed at the end of the campaign, replacing Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool.
Kampl played just one league game the following season for Borussia Dortmund before returning to boyhood club Bayer Leverkusen in a move worth €11 million.
#4 Matthias Ginter
Like Kampl, Ginter was another signing made by Jurgen Klopp in his final season at Borussia Dortmund. The central defender joined the Black and Yellows in July 2014 from Freiburg for €10 million and served as an understudy to Neven Subotic and Mats Hummels in central defense.
Ginter was just 20-years-old when he joined Jurgen Klopp's Dortmund and made his full debut in the German Super Cup against rivals Bayern Munich. The German international started alongside Subotic at center back and helped Borussia Dortmund to a 2-0 victory over Bayern.
Ginter appeared 20 times for Dortmund that campaign, with 14 of them coming in the league where he started nine times. The defender remained at Dortmund for two more seasons even after Klopp's departure and was frequently used at both right-back and centre-back by Jurgen Klopp's successor Thomas Tuchel.
The defender left Dortmund in 2017 to join Borussia Monchengladbach.