'It was weird' - Trent Alexander-Arnold reveals how Jurgen Klopp told Liverpool players his exit plans
- Jurgen Klopp is leaving Liverpool this summer
- Players were told at the same time as news went public
- Trent Alexander-Arnold recalls the 'weird' moment
Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold has revealed that he and the rest of the squad knew something was different the day that Jurgen Klopp announced he would be leaving the club.
Klopp went public in late January with his decision to step down as manager at the end of the season. He had informed the club hierarchy of that intention in November, but the players found out at basically the same time as the fans and the rest of the football world.
What was out of the ordinary is that the Liverpool players were gathered for a team meeting as soon as they arrived at the club's Kirkby training ground.
"[It was] weird, because we never have a meeting at that time, never," Alexander-Arnold explained to Gary Neville on the latest edition of The Overlap. "We normally get in at 10:00 or 10:30 and then have a meeting at 12:00 just before we go out to train. But when we got in, we had a meeting at 10:30 and that's the first time I’ve ever had a meeting at 10:30.
"Everyone's in the changing room, [Klopp] is just stood there and you can see the lads all looking round, thinking, 'What’s going on?' And then he just says, 'Look, lads, I wanted to let you know'. It was breaking [publicly] at the same time. He knew that another season would be too much.
"Something he taught us and something I've adopted as a player is take it season by season, no matter what situation you're in. There's no point stressing about the next season because that's completely different. There's so many lessons he's taught me, but that's probably one of the biggest."
As the clock winds down on Klopp’s time at Liverpool after nearly nine years, the Reds have already won the Carabao Cup and are still targeting a treble before the campaign is out, with Premier League and Europa League trophies both within their sights.