Liverpool great tears John Henry apart over ‘worthless’ ESL apology
Dietmar Hamann has strongly condemned the statement made by John Henry issued as an apology for the club’s involvement in the European Super League.
Six Premier League teams followed six others across Europe on Sunday by announcing their bombshell intentions to form their own lucrative league. The move hit widespread condemnation from all corners of football, fans, pundits and governing bodies alike. As such, the plans came crashing down in a matter of hours on Tuesday, starting with Chelsea’s withdrawal.
Indeed, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham and Liverpool all followed suit.
The move has brought the clubs back onside with the Premier League, UEFA and the FA; the two former bodies threatened to expel the English teams from their competitions.
The fall-out from the saga shows no signs of abating, however. Jamie Carragher claimed Henry and his FSG that owns Liverpool have no way of coming back from the farce.
And while Henry issued a grovelling apology, Hamann is not impressed and claims no apology would have been better.
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In a blunt response on social media, Hamann, who won the Champions League during his time at Anfield, said: “Worse than if he said nothing.”
Hamann has strongly condemned the actions of FSG in the hours before Liverpool’s withdrawal. He said their intentions were ignoring club traditions. Furthermore, he claimed they ‘may as well tear down the statue of [legendary manager] Bill Shankly in the process’.
“If this is where Liverpool want to be, you may as well tear the Shankly statue down,” he told Sky Sports.
“Liverpool Football Club always stood for helping each other, being there for people, not only their employees, but people in the city, outside the city. Whoever needed the help, the club were there.”
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Henry looks to Sancho deal
Henry, meanwhile, is reported to be trying to buy back favour with Reds supporters by securing the signing of Jadon Sancho.
However, Henry knows the entire episode has proved a huge PR disaster for Liverpool. As such, he knows he needs to do something pretty special to win back favour from supporters and Jurgen Klopp.
To that end, it’s been claimed he wants to bring England winger Sancho to Anfield in a club-record swoop.
It’s stated that Henry will slap down a club-record £86.1m offer to Dortmund to tempt them to do business.
Whether that tempts Dortmund to sell – or goes any way to appeasing Klopp and their fans – remains to be seen.
Sancho has long been tracked by Manchester United, but would not pay BVB’s asking price last summer.
His potential arrival at Anfield would give Klopp strong competition in the forward line were Sadio Mane and Mo Salah both to stay.
READ MORE: ‘Furious’ Klopp left ‘devastated’ over ESL, with Liverpool future in serious doubt