Klopp relief after key player assures Liverpool of his plans
Liverpool back-up keeper Adrian has dismissed talk of leaving Anfield after just 12 months.
The former West Ham stopper says he is happy at Liverpool and “wouldn’t change anything” about his time under Jurgen Klopp, despite talk of a return to Spain.
In February Spanish paper Estadio Deportivo claimed Adrian – who has featured 18 times for Liverpool this season after an early season calf injury sustained by Alisson – had accepted the chance to play regular football again in LaLiga with Real Betis.
It was claimed that the 33-year-old had already informed Jurgen Klopp of his intentions to return to Andalusia this summer and the German was unlikely to stand in his way.
However, that now appears to be wide of the mark with Adrian intent on staying at Anfield.
Adrian, who is under contract until 2021 with the further option of a year, told Radio Sevilla: “I see myself in Liverpool at the moment.
“I still have many years of football left, and we will see. I have one more year and another optional one. Right now I wouldn’t change anything to be here in Liverpool and enjoy this beautiful moment.
“After this moment I honestly don’t know, football is a lot of fun. In the summer, being a free agent, I saw the possibility of returning to Betis was there, but it vanished.
“You have to live in the present, and we’ll see what happens next. Having to leave home was complicated but looking at it now with perspective it’s clear that I’ve grown as a professional and as a person.”
Adrian also revealed he almost returned to Betis last summer before signing for Liverpool, but conceded a return to the club where he came through the ranks was now a more difficult proposition.
“To tell you the truth, now I see it being a little more difficult (to return to the Betis),” he added.
“After six seasons at West Ham and being free this past summer, it is true that I saw myself closer to returning home or to Spain and continuing my career there.
“Here I signed two seasons plus an optional one and this has been my first year, which has been fantastic.
“We hope to finish the season if possible, with total security, on the pitch, but then we don’t know anymore.
“The future is very uncertain; we can’t plan much more about tomorrow and what we have now. If the opportunity is given in the future, God will say.”
The news from Adrian will come as a relief to Klopp because finding a reliable No.2 goalkeeper who is willing to sit on the bench behind Alisson is not as easy as it may seem.
