Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was once moved to tears during a phone call with Kevin Prince-Boateng.
The German coach had to tell the former Tottenham player that he couldn't sign him permanently due to Borussia Dortmund's financial situation. Prince-Boateng, who had a successful loan spell at Dortmund in 2009, revealed this emotional moment on Rio Ferdinand's FIVE podcast.
He said: "It didn't work out. He called me personally and said we can't buy you, we don't have the money. We both cried on the phone. Like really cried. We had a very good relationship."
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Prince-Boateng's move to Dortmund was initially met with doubt from the club's fans. He recalled: "When they announced that I come to Dortmund, they [fans] criticised the club, like: 'Why [are] you bringing that guy? He's crazy. Did you see what he did in Tottenham?'".
However, the boss stood up for him at a press conference according to the player, who recalled Klopp saying: "I brought him here, I will make him the player he is. Prince Boateng has a book of 1,000 pages and each page is different, that's how good he is."
Prince-Boateng also praised Klopp's top-notch man-management skills, stating: "I said I will give my life for him. Every player would die for him on the pitch because he gives you that feeling of confidence, that feeling of love as well.
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He added: "Whatever you do, if you do a mistake, he's going to be there. I needed that guy who was going to believe in me because after Martin Jol and Juande Ramos, no-one believed in me. I didn't believe in myself – I just gave up.
"I had like six, seven pounds [of weight] more. So he gave me that feeling, so I came [there] and performed." However, some of Prince-Boateng's antics at Dortmund did attract criticism, including a nasty tackle on Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe – with Klopp again there to support him.
Prince-Boateng had quite the football journey, playing for Genoa, AC Milan (twice), Schalke, Las Palmas, Eintracht Frankfurt, Sassuolo, Barcelona (loan), Fiorentina, Besiktas (loan) and Monza – before returning to his roots at Hertha Berlin where he kicked off his career. He hung up his boots in August at the age of 36.
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up Daily Star's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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