“How is he?”

“Is his family doing well?”

“I remember him telling me the story of how he met his wife, are they still together?"

A gripped Jurgen Klopp continues to rattle off his questions. The subject matter is a former player that featured fewer than five times for Liverpool’s manager at a previous club, almost a decade ago, but it was more than enough for the German to feel an affinity towards him.

This is the norm and not the exception for the Reds boss, who made a dart towards Jordon Ibe immediately after Bournemouth’s 4-3 victory over his side last December. The winger had reached his ceiling at Anfield and was a casualty of Klopp’s first off-season window in a £15 million switch to the south coast, but the support and affection from his ex-gaffer remains.