Klopp's warning rings true once again after Emre Can was left eating his words

Jurgen Klopp has welcomed some big names to Anfield including Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah.

But he's also said goodbye to a number of stars he'd have rather kept hold of at the time - Philippe Coutinho and Georginio Wijnaldum being two prime examples. The former joined Barcelona from Liverpool in a £142million transfer back in 2018, with the latter parting Anfield on a free in 2021.

A famous Klopp quote emerged while Coutinho was on his way out the door at Liverpool. "I told him to stay here and they will end up building a statue in your honour. Go somewhere else, to Barcelona, to Bayern Munich, to Real Madrid, and you will be just another player. Here you can be something more," said the German.

Klopp's words came back to haunt Coutinho, who was quickly cast aside at Barcelona and sent out on loan to Bayern Munich. He is now at Aston Villa after failing to make a name for himself at the Nou Camp.

Another player who seemingly learnt the hard way was Emre Can.

Can opted against signing a new contract at Liverpool in 2018 and instead signed for Juventus. "I had a lot of offers from very good teams," the Turkish midfielder told the Liverpool Echo shortly after the move.

"I decided to come to Juventus because I think the project here is very big. They have very big aims. I want to be part of the project here. I am really happy to be here. I know how Juventus play, I watched a lot of the games last season. One of my biggest idols was Zidane who played here too. My first manager when I started to play football was a huge Juventus fan.

"When I was six or seven he told me that one day I'd play for Juventus. Now I am here and it's a cool story.

"The club had good contact with my agent for many years. I just know how huge the club is and the mentality of the club - they want to win titles. That's my mentality too. I came here to win titles. I think the first target has to be to win Serie A and then comes the Champions League. That has to be our aim. I am here to help the team."

Foresight is a wonderful thing, but as Liverpool went on to win the titles Can spoke about - the Premier League and Champions League - Juve fell disappointingly short in Europe.

Can started to fall down the pecking order in Italy and was left out of the club's Champions League squad in 2019. The Turkey international was eventually forced to leave Juve for Dortmund.

Wijnaldum is the most recent big player to leave Liverpool, with the Netherlands international putting pen to paper with Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2021 after his contract expired on Merseyside.

He claimed he "didn't feel loved and appreciated" by fans as he departed Liverpool, with Jamie Carragher hitting back in response: "He wanted more money the club said no, that's football!"

Wijnaldum's first season in France has now concluded, but like Coutinho and Can before him, the midfielder has so far endured a dreadful time away from Liverpool.

In fact, Wijnaldum's first campaign has been so poor that Get French Football News dubbed him the 'flop of the year', with the Dutchman "comfortably winning the fans' vote by a wide margin".

As was the case with Coutinho and Can before him, Wijnaldum is now the latest player to learn the hard way in leaving Anfield for a new adventure elsewhere, and will perhaps now be wishing he'd considered Klopp's warning to the Brazilian.

This summer could see Sadio Mane become the next big Liverpool player to leave the club, with the Senegal international strongly linked with a transfer to Bayern Munich.

Klopp and co. wanted to keep hold of the forward, but Mane has made up his mind that he wants a new challenge, prompting Liverpool to splash out £85million on Darwin Nunez.