Jurgen Klopp prepares a ‘very essential’ contract for his mid-fieldernand believes the club should take advantage of
character and thinking’ despite his contract expiring this summer.
Jurgen Klopp wants James Milner to continue at Liverpool and is working on a proposal to extend his current contract
Milner is fighting to start this afternoon’s vital Anfield match against Chelsea after impressing in Tuesday’s 1-0 FA Cup win over Wolves. The 37-year-old is a free agent this summer, but Klopp does not want him to leave the group.
Though Milner knows he cannot go on playing forever, he wants to remain in football and has been working on his coaching badges at the club’s Academy; three years ago, when Liverpool played an FA Cup replay at Anfield against Shrewsbury with a young team, he helped with their preparations.
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Klopp promised it would be a summer of change earlier this week and players such as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita are expected to leave but his wish to retain Milner’s services has nothing to do with loyalty.
‘We have different plans for Milly but Milly wants to keep playing,’ said Klopp. ‘When you see him play the other night I think everyone understands that. You can’t judge him normal for his age. He is 37, doesn’t look a day like this when he is in training.
‘He is an incredibly important player and in this game (Wolves) you saw on the pitch as well. It is not that Milly expects to play 64 games a season but in 64 games a season Milly could be extremely important. That is how it is. Milly has reached 600 games and most of them for Liverpool.
‘Even a player who had a few clubs can end up at his club and I would consider Liverpool as his club and I am pretty sure the club should use his character and his mindset because it is really special.
‘There might be more fancy players out there but no one with a similar mind-set and that makes him incredibly valuable for us. And it is not because I am too loyal. It is just a fact.’
This will be Klopp’s 1000th game as a manager and it carries huge connotations, as dropping any points will make their quest to qualify for the Champions League next season all the more problematic. It will be even more of test, he fears, if his rivals spend as Chelsea have done.
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‘I can’t see investment stopping in the future and that means we have to do it as well,’ said Klopp, whose priority for the summer is signing Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham. ‘We don’t talk about now because it’s always slightly different, but in general.
‘I believe in coaching, I believe in developing, I believe in team-building and using those things 100 per cent, but meanwhile in the world out there the managers are really good, there are so many good managers out there it’s crazy.
‘So they believe in that as well, and if they start really properly spending and do those things as well, then you cannot not spend or you will have a little bit of a problem.’
