Xherdan Shaqiri has again confirmed he wanted to leave Liverpool earlier than this summer, but the club wouldn’t allow him to.
The forward left Liverpool for Lyon in the summer in a £5.4m deal, bringing an end to a three year stay at Anfield.
He had increasingly found himself down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp, who had limited the Switzerland star to a backup role at best.
That was largely due to the consistency of the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, who have both established themselves among the best in the world in recent years.
He was pushed further down the pecking order by the arrival of Diogo Jota last summer, with the Portuguese forward hitting the ground running at Anfield.
Because of that, Shaqiri had made it clear he wanted out of Liverpool for some time but only managed to secure that this summer.
He’s now confirmed he tried to get out before his move to Lyon but left on good terms with Klopp regardless of that.
“I wanted to leave Liverpool sooner,” he told Watson.
“But I wasn’t allowed to; the club wouldn’t let me go. The important thing for me is that I’m gone now. There were also offers from Spain and Italy.
“I was in contact with him (Klopp) by phone before that. When the time came, he texted me. He wished me luck in that and said that I was a good player and a good guy.
“We never had any problems with each other, and we had a very good relationship. But I just wanted a new challenge, that’s normal in football. Jürgen helped me in this regard.”
