Henderson and Milner invest in local club after Klopp made Liverpool demand

13 March 2023 , 16:50

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Jurgen Klopp with James Milner and Jordan Henderson, two of his converts to padel.

Jurgen Klopp became so enamoured with it during a trip to Tenerife that he told Liverpool to install a court at the training ground.

Now, the influence of padel is wearing off on some of his players with Jordan Henderson and James Milner investing in a Cheshire club.

The racket sport, considered the fastest growing in the world, is taking off across the country and footballers are among those who cannot get enough.

It is a cross between tennis and squash, played on a 10m x 20m court that is fenced in and doubles are more common than singles. Balls are like tennis balls and the scoring system is the same but the rackets used are solid rather than strings.

David Beckham, Lionel Messi and Paul Pogba are among those to be pictured in action but Klopp may be the most fanatic of them all. The Liverpool boss even has his own range of kit, made by Wilson.

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"Padel is, besides football, the best game I've ever played,” he said when the range, which includes a customised racket, was launched. “I've only known it in the last five years or so, but since then, I'm really addicted to it. You make big steps in a short period of time. It's really fun to play."

Klopp came across it during a training camp in Tenerife - the game began in Mexico before spreading to Spanish-speaking countries - and became hooked.

Games at Melwood have become so competitive that assistant Pep Lijnders has previously joked that Klopp “walks around like Conor McGregor ” after winning a few games.

Pep Lijnders (YouTube/This is Anfield)

Henderson and Milner have stumped up cash for a stake in the Padel Club in Handforth. The Daily Mail reported that former Everton players Joleon Lescott and Gareth Barry have also invested.

During their post-World Cup camp in Dubai, Mo Salah and Thiago Alcantara even got involved with a game against the coaches - but Klopp and Lijnders triumphed.

Klopp, quoted by the club’s own media, said: "The coaches, we play in our spare time – we love it, we just love the game and play it pretty much all the time. We have our average level.

"Mo saw us from time to time playing and wanted to play against us desperately, so we now gave him the chance to play. But I'm not sure he'll want to play again!

"That's not true actually – he asked all the time when we can play again. But it's a wonderful game, we love it.

"When you saw the pictures, it's obviously not high-intense at our level. There are levels where it's incredibly intense but we cannot play that. It was good fun."

Alan Smith