It has been disclosed that Liverpool’s manager, Jurgen Klopp, breached a Premier League regulation to honor a commitment he made to midfielder Harvey Elliott.
Klopp’s adeptness in handling his players is regarded as one of his most remarkable managerial attributes, with numerous athletes attesting to their preference for playing under him. In a 2020 interview with Sky Sports, Manchester United legend Gary Neville disclosed that Klopp would have been his preferred manager to play under during his own career, second only to Sir Alex Ferguson.
Since Klopp’s arrival at Anfield in 2015, he has transformed Liverpool into perennial contenders for the Premier League title, with the previous season being the exception. In 2020, he guided the Reds to a Premier League championship, a year after they secured their sixth Champions League victory with a 2-0 win over Tottenham.
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Throughout the 2019/20 campaign, Klopp relied heavily on a core group of players, with six of them featuring in 35 or more of the 38 matches. Notably, Roberto Firmino, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold were ever-present.
This limited the opportunities for other players, but some of the younger members of the squad, including Curtis Jones and Neco Williams, managed to accumulate the requisite five appearances to qualify for a Premier League medal. However, Harvey Elliott only made two appearances during the season, which meant he did not meet the medal criteria.
In a revealing interview with the Liverpool Echo, Elliott disclosed that Klopp circumvented a Premier League rule to ensure he received a medal as a memento of the remarkable season. Elliott stated, “I’m not entirely sure if it was [Klopp’s] medal; it could have been his, but I received one at the end of the day. I entered the changing room after the parade and the presentations, and they handed it to me. I can’t quite put into words how I felt; I was simply overjoyed and sent pictures to my parents, saying, ‘I’ve got a medal! I’ve got a medal!’ They were in the stadium as well, so I was able to go up and show them and celebrate with them. It was an incredible feeling.”