Jurgen Klopp hires manager who turfed out his Liverpool record signing for ill discipline

Jurgen Klopp’s RB Leipzig have agreed a deal for Ole Werner to become their new manager, but they may disagree on some matters. The former Werder Bremen head coach arrives in Saxony after an extensive search full of rejections came to an end. Werner arrives in Leipzig after reports Klopp was desperate to sign Cesc Fabregas insteadAFP The Red Bull head may have some different views to his new employeeGetty According to reports, Werner was far from first choice, but he follows the club’s philosophy of building a young and upcoming squad as he’s just 37. Having impressed at Holstein Kiel he narrowly missed out on Bundesliga promotion, but then excelled at traditional giants Bremen, taking them back to the top flight and establishing them as a top half side. Such displays were enough to impress Klopp, who was understood to be heavily involved in Leipzig’s search for their next manager. However, what may not have impressed him was how Werner treated one of his statement signings. Klopp was in his third season at Liverpool in 2017 and was starting to refine a squad he’d taken back to the Champions League and made three record deals during the course of the campaign. Breaking the previous club record fee of the £35million paid to Newcastle for Andy Carroll in 2011, Mohamed Salah arrived from Roma for £42.5m and no one had any idea how good he would become. In fact, there was more excitement over the next signing to break that record – Naby Keita – with a £50m deal struck with Leipzig. The deal came with the proviso that Keita would arrive the following summer in 2018, building up anticipation for a midfielder who was tearing up the Bundesliga with some Andreas Iniesta-style grace. However, when he arrived it soon went wrong as he was regularly injured, and failed to have the impact such a fee demanded. That’s nothing compared to his next club, though, Ole Werner’s Werder Bremen. Keita won it all at Liverpool but was never able to contribute muchNews Group Newspapers Ltd Keita became Liverpool’s record signing two months after Salah broke the record, then Van Dijk took it before Keita had even played for them Keita joined in 2023 at the end of his contract and was heralded as the signing of the season. 12 months later his fellow Bundesliga players voted him the worst. The Guinean played just five matches, totalling 107 minutes, fewer than the 177 he played for his country at that winter’s Africa Cup of Nations. Reports began to emerge about his attitude upsetting his teammates, claiming he failed to show up for promotional events despite being the squad’s best paid player. Keita returned to fitness towards the end of the campaign, but Werner wasn’t keen. “We see others before him because of the training displays, because of the performance,” he said. “Naby also missed a day of training at the beginning of the week and only worked individually. Keita’s heralded Bremen spell fell to pieces very quicklyGetty “That’s why others were ahead of him. He couldn’t train or only trained individually because he had problems.” That was in March, and then in April an explosive story emerged claiming that he refused to travel for his first game back against Bayer Leverkusen after finding out he was on the bench. Sporting director Clemens Fritz corroborated those reports, saying in a statement: “After Naby found out yesterday that he wouldn’t be playing from the start, he decided not to get on the bus but to go home. “We will talk to him and his advisor tomorrow about the consequences and how to proceed.” Werner on his part added: “It annoys me and it will have consequences. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but that will follow in the next few days.” Keita didn’t play for Bremen again, spending the first half of the 2024/25 season training with the Under-21s before joining Hungarian side Ferencvaros and winning the league title under Premier League great Robbie Keane. With his reputation somewhat enhanced, he later claimed there were lies about his Bremen exit, but apologised to his teammates about how it all ended. Nevertheless, if Klopp ever considers bringing him back to the Red Bull family, he may have some opposition in the dugout.

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Jurgen Klopp hires manager who turfed out his Liverpool record signing for ill discipline

Jurgen Klopp’s RB Leipzig have agreed a deal for Ole Werner to become their new manager, but they may disagree on some matters.

The former Werder Bremen head coach arrives in Saxony after an extensive search full of rejections came to an end.

Werner arrives in Leipzig after reports Klopp was desperate to sign Cesc Fabregas instead

The Red Bull head may have some different views to his new employee

According to reports, Werner was far from first choice, but he follows the club’s philosophy of building a young and upcoming squad as he’s just 37.

Having impressed at Holstein Kiel he narrowly missed out on Bundesliga promotion, but then excelled at traditional giants Bremen, taking them back to the top flight and establishing them as a top half side.

Such displays were enough to impress Klopp, who was understood to be heavily involved in Leipzig’s search for their next manager.

However, what may not have impressed him was how Werner treated one of his statement signings.

Klopp was in his third season at Liverpool in 2017 and was starting to refine a squad he’d taken back to the Champions League and made three record deals during the course of the campaign.

Breaking the previous club record fee of the £35million paid to Newcastle for Andy Carroll in 2011, Mohamed Salah arrived from Roma for £42.5m and no one had any idea how good he would become.

In fact, there was more excitement over the next signing to break that record – Naby Keita – with a £50m deal struck with Leipzig.

The deal came with the proviso that Keita would arrive the following summer in 2018, building up anticipation for a midfielder who was tearing up the Bundesliga with some Andreas Iniesta-style grace.

However, when he arrived it soon went wrong as he was regularly injured, and failed to have the impact such a fee demanded.

That’s nothing compared to his next club, though, Ole Werner’s Werder Bremen.

Keita won it all at Liverpool but was never able to contribute much

Keita became Liverpool’s record signing two months after Salah broke the record, then Van Dijk took it before Keita had even played for them

Keita joined in 2023 at the end of his contract and was heralded as the signing of the season. 12 months later his fellow Bundesliga players voted him the worst.

The Guinean played just five matches, totalling 107 minutes, fewer than the 177 he played for his country at that winter’s Africa Cup of Nations.

Reports began to emerge about his attitude upsetting his teammates, claiming he failed to show up for promotional events despite being the squad’s best paid player.

Keita returned to fitness towards the end of the campaign, but Werner wasn’t keen.

“We see others before him because of the training displays, because of the performance,” he said.

“Naby also missed a day of training at the beginning of the week and only worked individually.

Keita’s heralded Bremen spell fell to pieces very quickly

“That’s why others were ahead of him. He couldn’t train or only trained individually because he had problems.”

That was in March, and then in April an explosive story emerged claiming that he refused to travel for his first game back against Bayer Leverkusen after finding out he was on the bench.

Sporting director Clemens Fritz corroborated those reports, saying in a statement: “After Naby found out yesterday that he wouldn’t be playing from the start, he decided not to get on the bus but to go home.

“We will talk to him and his advisor tomorrow about the consequences and how to proceed.”

Werner on his part added: “It annoys me and it will have consequences. I haven’t spoken to him yet, but that will follow in the next few days.”

Keita didn’t play for Bremen again, spending the first half of the 2024/25 season training with the Under-21s before joining Hungarian side Ferencvaros and winning the league title under Premier League great Robbie Keane.

With his reputation somewhat enhanced, he later claimed there were lies about his Bremen exit, but apologised to his teammates about how it all ended.

Nevertheless, if Klopp ever considers bringing him back to the Red Bull family, he may have some opposition in the dugout.