“I’m even a bit of a fan” – Player on signing for Liverpool, good feelings there, and Klopp relationship

In 2011, Real Madrid signed Nuri Sahin from Borussia Dortmund and handed him a six-year deal.

After spending one season with the Spanish capital club, he was loaned out to Liverpool, where he spent six months before returning to Signal Iduna Park in January 2013.

The same year the midfielder revealed that he was not happy at Santiago Bernabeu or Anfield, which was the reason he rejoined his former club.

Sahin left Dortmund and made a switch to Werder Bremen in the summer and and has spoken to Sport Bild of Germany about his career. The 30-year-old explained why he struggled with the Champions League winners and that it was necessary to join the Merseyside club on a temporary deal.

“No one can afford to stand still at Madrid. Real did not bring me because I look good, but because I can play football well, because I put my mark on the championship team of BVB. After four and a half months injury break, the train had raced very far away,” he said.

“I could have stayed the full six years – never had to play football again, move to the Bahamas. I still have contact with President Florentino Pérez today. I would miss something in my career if I had never seen this very high level. My goal was already as a ball boy Real Madrid.

In Ethiopia (where Sahin and Neven Subotic support a project for clean water) many children have never watched TV, but all knew Real Madrid.

“However, I have only best memories of Liverpool. I’m even a bit of a fan because this guy [Jurgen Klopp] is a coach there.”

Sahin played under the current Reds manager when the two were at Dortmund and the Werder Bremen player admitted that still maintains a ‘very good contact’ with Klopp.