Jurgen Klopp was reunited with one of his former players this week as he was spotted with ex-Liverpool centre-back Ragnar Klavan in Estonia.
Throughout his career as a manager, Klopp used a total of 264 different players.
While there were many more important than the defender signed from Augsburg, Klavan became a cult hero among Liverpool supporters for his unassuming approach on and off the pitch.
He made 53 appearances for the Reds between 2016 and 2018 before leaving to join Cagliari, finishing his career back in Estonia with Paide and finally Kalev.
Having only retired in December, aged 39, Klavan swiftly announced he would be running for presidency of the Estonian FA.
The election will take place on June 19, with Klavan up against current incumbent Aivar Pohlak, and he has now been given high-profile support.
Klopp sat down with his former player, understood to be in Tallinn, and later posed with a ‘Team Klavan’ shirt to show his backing.
“I’m here because I’m convinced you can help football. I know you as a person, so if I would have any doubts I would not sit here,” Klopp told Klavan.
“Why not? It’s not even a question, it’s just you have to do it. And by doing that, improve the confidence of Estonian people, to show ‘yeah we’re not the biggest country in the world, but in moments we can be the greatest’.”
His visit comes ahead of Klavan’s International Top Football Conference in the Estonian capital on Friday.
In an interview with This Is Anfield, Liverpool’s former No. 17 recalled how he felt when he first made the move to Merseyside.
“My first day when I arrived here was something special. This is something you will never forget in your life,” Klavan explained.
“To be part of this amazing team, to go and work with so many amazing players together and under Jurgen Klopp and to do in those two years, that kind of development what happened with Liverpool Football Club.
“To be part of it, to witness it, it was something that I remember like it was yesterday.”
On Klopp, he added: “Jurgen, his charisma.
“With his coaching style, with his team meetings, with his talks, how he can motivate the players and when times are getting hard and he can coach you or talk you back into getting the best out of you.
“I learned also a lot from him and also from everybody here from Liverpool Football Club. So those two years I really, really absorbed a lot of things.”
Klavan recently returned to Anfield to play for Liverpool’s legends side in their 2-0 win over Chelsea in a charity friendly in March.
Now he is pushing forward with his vision to “bring Estonia into the top 50 football nations in the world by 2033.”
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