Liverpool’s new goalkeeper coach already had Jurgen Klopp “interested” – Liverpool FC

Liverpool have confirmed their new goalkeeper coach is Fabian Otte, and he is someone Jurgen Klopp had previously been “interested” in.

With goalkeeping coach John Achterberg departing to join Steven Gerrard in Saudi Arabia, and his assistant Jack Robinson also leaving, the Reds needed someone to fill the void left.

The man Liverpool have turned to is 33-year-old Otte, a German who will join after the Copa America, where he is working with the USA national team.

Otte is a figure who has raised eyebrows already in his young career, and former manager Klopp took note of his compatriot back in 2021.

Otte spent the 2020/21 season as a coach at Burnley before leaving for Borussia Monchengladbach.

He told Sky Sports of how before Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Turf Moor that season, “Jurgen started smiling at” him.

Otte continued: “Obviously, Jurgen Klopp is a big name, I have heard about him, read about him and watched him on television for many years. I just waved back.

“When I got back to the changing room, the kitman said, ‘Jurgen Klopp was just asking about you. He said he read this piece about you and was interested’.

“Afterwards, I spoke to him for quite a while and he was such a cool person. It was a very interesting experience.

“This is the Liverpool manager. He could have a thousand better things to do than read about me but he knew so many details.”

It is a story that divulges how personable Klopp is, but it also tells us that Otte has been on the club’s radar for a while.

In Slot’s first LFC TV interview, he said: “If you bring in Fabian, who I didn’t know before, you have conversations, meetings with him – together with Richard (Hughes, sporting director) – to bring the best possible person in we could find.

“And I think in the situation of Fabian we managed to do that.

“He’s regarded as one of the most interesting goalkeeper coaches there is at the moment and in the meetings we had I felt this as well.”

With over nine years of coaching experience already under his belt, he will work with the experienced Brazil legend, Claudio Taffarel, to keep Alisson at the top level and develop the Reds’ younger goalkeepers.