I was heartbroken the day of my Liverpool injury - I could have been a star under Jurgen Klopp

Jurgen Klopp shaped the careers of many modern-day Liverpool heroes, unfortunately for Sheyi Ojo, injury hampered his chances Former Liverpool player Sheyi Ojo has opened up about the 'heartbreak' that came with getting injured whilst playing under Jurgen Klopp . Now rediscovering his love for football with Slovenian outfit NK Maribor, he feels the door shut on his Reds career that day. When Klopp first arrived at Anfield , he acquired a squad that contained the first wave of modern talent arriving from the Academy into the first-team.

Reds will remember names such as Pedro Chirivella, Joao Texiera and Brad Smith from intermittent flashblacks to cup ties against Exeter City or Rubin Kazan in the darker days of that bright new era. Ojo was firmly a part of that troop, having signed from boyhood team MK Dons as a 14-year-old and worked his way through the age groups. He would actually begin to see a share of Premier League action under his new manager - eight of the young winger's 13 total appearances in the end were in the English top-flight in early 2016, and all was going well.



That was until back problems on the eve of the 2016/17 campaign forced him out of Klopp's thinking. "I was really upset, to be honest," he admitted to the MK Citizen . "It didn’t break me because I’m still here but at the time I remember feeling heartbroken because I knew really that was my opportunity to properly kick on.

It was a back injury and I was out for about four months. "Even to this day, I remember that exact feeling. It was a hard one to take.

" That first full season was of course pivotal as the German coach added his first major signings to the team. One of those was future legend Sadio Mane , who came to occupy the wing spot Ojo would have desired, and as Champions League qualification was secured that term, there was no looking back with Mohamed Salah and more quality signings across the squad added year upon year. As is the cruel nature of football, teenage Ojo would begin a string of loans that took him across the Championship, north of the border to Rangers and even with Reims in French football.

It wasn't until 2022 he was released from Liverpool and found a permanent home with Cardiff City. He made 82 appearances in the two seasons to follow, though admits: "Over the last two years, I have not enjoyed football in the way I would have wanted to." Now playing for Maribor in Slovenia's Prva Liga, Ojo added: "I guess that was the main motivation for coming here, because the plan and the vision they set out for me was pretty clear: They just wanted to see me play with a smile on my face and show everyone and myself how good I really am.

So it felt like the perfect opportunity to do that." Join our WhatsApp community, sign up to a newsletter or listen to our podcasts HERE.