Barcelona striker Robert Lewandowski said Jurgen Klopp was “like a father” to him at Borussia Dortmund, with the manager changing the striker’s career trajectory after one pivotal conversation.

Klopp left Liverpool in the summer after a hugely successful eight-and-a-half years at Anfield. Before that, the 57-year-old Reds legend achieved marvellous feats with German club Dortmund, winning two Bundesliga titles and reaching a Champions League final between the years of 2008 and 2015.

A key part of Klopp’s success was Lewandowski – initially an unproven youngster who developed into one of the greatest forwards of the 21st century. The Pole made 187 appearances under Klopp, notching an impressive tally of 103 goals, before joining rivals Bayern Munich.

While appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast, presented by Qatar Airways, the clinical Barcelona ace was asked by Ferdinand about the specifics of Klopp’s renowned man-management skills. Lewandowski recalled one specific heart-to-heart conversation with Klopp early on in his Dortmund career, where they discussed their expectations of each other, which ended up unlocking his potential.

He said: “We lost one game in my second year at Dortmund, I think it was away and we were in the hotel. At that time I had just started to speak German, so I couldn’t understand everything.

“I felt that I didn’t know what he wanted from me, what he expected from me. I had to talk with him. Because I lost my father when I was 16 years old and, in my life, I didn’t have someone who I could always speak to about my problems. So I thought that if I went to speak to him, maybe I’d feel better.

“We spoke for like one-and-a-half hours. Even though I didn’t understand everything he said, I tried to understand. He spoke then I spoke. In that conversation it was important what we were talking about.

“For me, it was more important that he talked to me in that way, which for me was like I was speaking to my father. Maybe because of my private situation and emotions at the time, I needed that conversation.”

Lewandowski went on to score a hat-trick and provide an assist just days later in a 4-0 victory. He added: “So, in the end this kind of conversation opened up something inside me.”

The forward has not looked back since, scoring 620 club goals for the likes of Bayern Munich and Barcelona. He holds the joint-record for the most top-scorer awards in Europe’s top five leagues (eight) alongside Lionel Messi, and was widely considered to be deserving of a Ballon d’Or until the award was cancelled in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

His story will resonate with many Liverpool players who were transformed under Klopp and responded well to his paternal management style. Such players include current captain Virgil van Dijk and Reds hero Sadio Mane.

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FC Barcelona executive Enric Masip revealed which club recently offered $211.65 million (€200 million) for its wonderkid Lamine Yamal, while appearing on popular Spanish television program El Chiringuito, as reported by Forbes

Masip was first asked if the teenager, who won the Euros with Spain last summer and has continued in fine form under Hansi Flick that has helped Barca top La Liga by six points.

“I would say that right now he is the most decisive player, yes. Let’s see. I don’t think that talking about a 17-year-old boy as the best in the world is good for him, okay?

“For us, yes… For us to think that we have the best in the world I think is nice,” Masip added.

Masip noted that while Lamine debuted as a 15-year-old in the spring of 2024, it has been in “the year where Mbappe decides to go to Madrid”, that “you get a 16-year-old boy who wins the European Championship, who becomes a world phenomenon in a very short time and suddenly you stand in a league that starts as Mbappé’s La Liga and a 17-year-old boy appears who begins to play in a happy way, who overflows, a different player”.

Masip said that this has been “like the icing of the cake” for Barca, and that while Vinicius Jr and Mbappe can “play with that speed, with that quality”, what Lamine does “is something that you saw in [Lionel] Messi”, “something different”.

“Can he be the best in the world? Yes, but it’s good that we stay calm,” Masip reiterated.

Masip accepted that comparisons between Messi and Lamine, which go beyond a viral photo of the Argentine “blessing” the winger when he was barely six months old, and accepted that “it’s going to be like that because the boy doesn’t leave you indifferent either”.

“In other words, every game he does something that leaves you with your mouth open. It’s a privilege for La Liga and Barca to have a player like that.”

Masip, one of the most trusted confidants Laporta has, further opened his mouth about the monstrous offer that came in for Lamine which Laporta himself confirmed during an episode of his podcast.

“The president has already said that he had an offer of €200 million that he rejected and that he never considered it,” Masip stated.

Then when asked where the bid came from, Masip answered: “It was from France”.

El Chiringuito host Josep Pederol said that Lamine would have been “the perfect substitute” for Mbappe, pushing Masip further to confirm that it was Paris Saint-Germain which tabled the offer.

Masip smiled, and said: “Well, when you have money and you have a way to pay for it [i.e. such a big transfer], then you can aspire to try to sign everyone”.

And though Masip didn’t mention PSG’s name outright it is only the Parisians that have that kind of cash and perhaps only them and Manchester City worldwide that boast it to come near smashing the world transfer record.

France manager Didier Deschamps insisted Kylian Mbappe can play as a centre-forward even though some may call him crazy.

The Real Madrid forward was shockingly left out of France’s squad for November’s Nations League fixtures against Israel and Italy, but that didn’t keep Mbappe’s name out of the headlines. After refusing to elaborate on the omission of his captain, who is fully fit but in poor form, Deschamps did offer his opinion on the hotly debated topic of how to get the most out of the 25-year-old.

Following a 3-1 victory over Italy at San Siro on Sunday night – which saw Paris Saint-Germain’s Randal Kolo Muani start up front alongside Inter striker Marcus Thuram – Deschamps was quizzed on Mbappe’s best position.

“He can play in several positions,” the defiant French coach told Telefoot, “after that it’s a question of association. You might tell me that I’m ‘crazy’ to put him as a centre forward but he also played centre forward with his last two club coaches.

“He doesn’t have [Olivier] Giroud’s profile, of course, so it all depends on which team we’re playing against. When he’s in the centre, he has a preference for the left centre rather than the right centre even though I saw him at Real Madrid rather occupying the right centre. It’s a balance of positions [but you have to] always leave a lot of freedom.”

Mbappe ended the long-running transfer saga by leaving PSG to join Real Madrid on a free last summer. After a goal on his debut against Atalanta in the UEFA Super Cup, the high-profile striker has struggled to live up to the lofty expectations which he set in Paris.

“He is in a complicated situation,” Deschamps said of Mbappe, who boasts eight goals in 16 games across all competitions this season. “He is supposed to find everything that he could have done very well even if he was also less effective [at times] in 2024.”

Real Madrid’s 4-0 Clasico thrashing at the hands of Barcelona was a particular nadir for Mbappe, who squandered a glut of chances and was memorably caught offside eight times. The Frenchman again drew a blank in Madrid’s dismal Champions League defeat to AC Milan before skirting around the fringes of a home win over Osasuna on the eve of the international break.

Despite overlooking Mbappe for France’s fixtures this month, Deschamps was optimistic that his captain would rediscover his best form. “I hope so and I don’t see why he wouldn’t come back,” the manager said. “He has a complicated, more difficult period, but he has everything to do what he did again.”

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