5 players who you didn't know played under Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Premier League
Liverpool v Crystal Palace - Premier League

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

RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund - DFB Cup Final 2021
RB Leipzig v Borussia Dortmund - DFB Cup Final 2021

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

Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Moenchengladbach - Bundesliga
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Moenchengladbach - Bundesliga

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.


# 3 Andriy Voronin

Ukraine v Sweden - Group D: UEFA EURO 2012
Ukraine v Sweden - Group D: UEFA EURO 2012

By far the oldest player and the only inactive player on this list. Voronin was a teammate of Jurgen Klopp in the German's last season as a player at Mainz. He joined Mainz as a teenager and Klopp saw the talent the Ukrainian possessed first-hand.

Voronin was given more first-team football by Klopp in his second season at Mainz and scored a decent nine goals. He exploded and ended up scoring 20 goals the following campaign. Mainz, however, failed to secure promotion that campaign and Voronin left to join Koln.

After just a season at Koln and three at Bayer Leverkusen, the Ukrainian striker joined Liverpool on a free transfer. Injuries and a series of unimpressive performances however saw him depart the Anfield club after two seasons. He scored six goals in 40 appearances for the Reds before returning to Germany where he joined Hertha Berlin on a season-long loan.

Voronin retired from professional football in 2013 after his contract at Dynamo Moscow expired and is currently the assistant manager at the club.

#2 Ciro Immobile

SS Lazio v Parma Calcio - Serie A
SS Lazio v Parma Calcio - Serie A

The Italian striker is widely renowned for his goalscoring exploits at Lazio but it is very easy to forget that. Like Kampl and Ginter, Immobile also joined Borussia Dortmund in Jurgen Klopp's final season in charge at the club.

He joined Dortmund from Torino for a reported €18.5 million after scoring 23 goals in 34 games for the Italian outfit. Immobile made his debut for Dortmund starting in the 2-0 Super Cup triumph over Bayern Munich.

Immobile garnered 24 appearances in the Bundesliga, starting just nine times and scoring three goals. He fared much better in Europe for Dortmund that campaign, scoring four goals in six games. Another three goals in the DFB-Pokal saw the Italian take up his tally for the season to 10 goals in 34 games.

The Italian was brought in to replace striker Robert Lewandowski, who joined rivals Bayern Munich that summer. Immobile but largely failed to live up to expectations and was sent out on loan to Sevilla the following campaign by Klopp's replacement Thomas Tuchel.

After Sevilla, he returned to Torino on loan before joining Lazio permanently where his career once again began its ascendancy. The 31-year-old has scored 150 goals in his five seasons at Lazio and is just nine goals away from equaling the all-time goalscoring record of the Italian giants.

#1 Kevin-Prince Boateng

SD Huesca v FC Barcelona - La Liga
SD Huesca v FC Barcelona - La Liga

A player famed for his many sojourns across clubs in Europe. His more famous spells include stints at AC Milan, Schalke and Barcelona recently. Boateng, however, played for Borussia Dortmund briefly back in 2009.

In his second season as a Tottenham Hotspur player, Boateng was loaned out to Jurgen Klopp's Borussia Dortmund in January. He played just three times for the London club all season.

He made just 11 appearances for the Black and Yellows and despite scoring no goals. Klopp was keen to sign the Ghanaian attacker permanently however the financial differences between Dortmund and Tottenham saw a potential deal fall through.

Boateng has since gone on to appear for 10 other sides since then and currently plies his trade at Serie B side Monza.

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Edited by Arnav Kholkar
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