Jurgen Klopp 6-3 Sir Alex Ferguson as Arsenal pair make legacy leftovers XI

Jurgen Klopp looks as though he’ll be leaving Liverpool in a good place, which is one of the main reasons his announcement came as such a surprise – this group could do something special. 

Then again, none of his new midfielders or forwards have made it into this combined XI of legacy leftovers from the Klopp, Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger eras.

Arsenal players who stuck around for Unai Emery and the Red Devils who watched The Chosen One walk through the door at Old Trafford were up for selection along with the current Liverpool crop.

GK: Alisson

In the Liverpool man, David De Gea and Petr Cech, we arguably had three of the top five Premier League goalkeepers ever to choose from, but De Gea was heavily criticised for being too lightweight in his early United days – improving after Fergie left – and Cech moved to Arsenal having been deemed surplus to requirements by Chelsea.

RB: Trent Alexander-Arnold

Hector Bellerin was probably at his peak in Wenger’s last season, but that peak is the base camp to the Mount Everest summit Trent looks down from. Rafael was solid for United and, in fairness to him, his exclusion is probably more about the era he played in than anything else, but he wouldn’t get a sniff with Trent around.

CB: Ibrahima Konate

Remember when Arsenal fans banged the Laurent Koscielny drum until they bought decent centre-backs and remembered what that looks like? Good times. Anyway, no place for him, or Shkodran Mustafi, bless him. And we’ve also snubbed legendary duo Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Matic, who were 34 and 31 respectively, and on a pretty dramatic decline by Fergie’s own Fergie time.

CB: Virgil van Dijk

A lot better now than last season but not close to his peak, and yet still one of the best defenders in the Premier League. Perhaps the easiest selection of all, which says at least as much about his competition as it says about him. Will he be part of the post-Klopp Liverpool era?

LB: Andrew Robertson

A bit of a coin flip here between Robertson and Nacho Monreal Patrice Evra, who got four goals and six assists in Fergie’s last Premier League season. Robertson edges him out by virtue of being three years his junior.

DM: Michael Carrick

‘He was really good, you know,’ says each and every one of his Manchester United teammates with puffed-out cheeks, as if we genuinely don’t know. To a man they insist he’s underrated by outsiders when in reality it’s them doing the underrating by banging on about Paul Scholes and Roy Keane all the live-long day.

AM: Mesut Ozil

It can’t have felt great for Shinji Kagawa that Paul Scholes had to be exhumed for one last hurrah midway through his debut season at Old Trafford, and a properly motivated Mesut Ozil would have walked into any of these three sides.

AM: Wayne Rooney

Sir Alex may well have left David Moyes in the lurch in defence and midfield, but the ‘man with the impossible job’ had an extraordinary group of forwards to choose from. Rooney was joined by Wilfried Zaha, Nani, Danny Welbeck, Chicharito and Robin van Persie.

Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie formed quite the partnership at Man Utd.

RW: Mohamed Salah

Liverpool don’t currently appear to be missing him at all (his fellow forwards are enjoying him not being there if anything), but 204 goals and 88 assists in 332 Liverpool games is a wonderful record. The next manager would surely much rather he stayed.

ST: Robin van Persie

Immediately struck a brilliant partnership with Rooney, because of course he did, contributing 26 goals and 15 assists to win Sir Alex his last Premier League title. Signing him was cheating, pure and simple.

LW: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Wenger essentially signed Aubameyang for the next manager, with the striker joining in the January before Unai Emery replaced him at the Emirates. He got ten goals and four assists in 13 games, and continued that vein of form before his falling-out with Mikel Arteta.

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