Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp back in 2016 is quite the understatement. Back then the Austrian stopper was 39 years of age, unattached and on the cusp of retirement.
Deemed surplus to requirements by Bundesliga outfit Augsburg, Manninger was in danger of seeing his colourful career come to a quiet end.
Then his wildest dreams were realised."Honestly, it was a surprise," Manninger revealed after signing for Liverpool. "After these years, in Italy and the last four years in Germany, I hadn’t given up, I hadn’t said ‘that’s it’, I still waited for the phone call." And then that phone call came.After being contacted by Klopp, the veteran goalkeeper's career took the most unexpected twist.
In one phone call, Manninger had gone from unemployed to being on the books at Anfield."When Liverpool was on the phone, it was a great pleasure for me to take it on because it gives me what I was looking for," he added. "This is the moment I was waiting for until the end."Remarkably, Manninger had returned to English shores 15 years after departing.
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