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Klopp hummed to himself as he stuck another picture into his album. Smiling, he laid the book on his desk so the paste would dry.
One of Klopp’s favorite hobbies was photography. This coincided perfectly with his other favorite hobby, scrapbooking. He would take pictures of the players and staff, then post them in albums. This particular album was titled, “Squad Photos: 2022”.
On this particular page, there was a picture of Alexander-Arnold, Harvey Elliott, and Fabio Carvalho. Each was captioned “Our Squad Babies”. The fourth picture—the new picture Klopp had just added to the book—had just been taken two days ago. In the photo, Klopp was hugging Stefan Bajcetić, who’d just scored his first senior goal.
“Jurgen!” Lijnders popped up from nowhere, peeking around the doorway. “The media crew’s coming soon. They’ve got Cody with them, and they’re doing the signing video.”
Klopp sat up so quickly, his hat nearly fell off. Taking an extra moment to brush back his blonde-gray hair into place, he set his stack of photos down and followed Lijnders out the door.
“I don’t see anything yet,” he said, scanning the staircase. “Exactly where is Cody?”
Lijnders grinned sheepishly, gaze darting from walls to floor. “Outside, still starting the video.”
“Pep!”
Lijnders shrugged. “I can’t help it. I’m as excited as you are!”
Klopp had to admit that was true. He’d been anticipating Cody Gakpo’s arrival ever since it was announced on Boxing Day. The forward was a companion of Van Dijk on the Dutch national team, and it was through Van Dijk that Klopp had begun to get to know Gakpo. Well, not entirely—he had his sources.
The two managers waited for what felt like forever, but there was no sign of Gakpo or the camera crew. They gave up, returning to Klopp’s office to wait.
“The poor boy,” Lijnders sympathized as he poured himself a cup of coffee. “The video crew are probably following him like a shadow. What a way to start life at Kirkby.”
“Rather deceptive,” Klopp agreed. “I’ll bet Cody will be relieved to figure out that the camera staff here are very friendly.”
Lijnders drained his coffee cup, glancing at the album. “New photo in the book?”
Klopp nodded, running a thumb over the pages. “The year’s almost finished, and that means the next three pages will be for the New Year’s Eve Party. But I’m saving one place over here,” he said, jabbing a finger on the right bottom corner of the page.
“Let me guess.” Lijnders was already halfway through his third cup of coffee. “Cody’s first picture with you and I?”
“Well, duh!”
A member of the camera crew entered at that moment, hoisting a heavy black camera over his shoulders. “Cody’s coming right now. The crew wants a shot of you hugging him, boss.”
Klopp jumped from his seat, the album forgotten completely. “You don’t need to ask me twice!”
He leant against the doorjamb, trying to ignore the cameras approaching the office. Klopp was a natural hugger, but when the cameras were on him he found it difficult to act normal.
Finally, Gakpo appeared around the corner. The youngster was already wearing a Liverpool training jacket, a sight for sore eyes. One gaze, and Klopp liked him already. He completely forgot about all the cameras surrounding them as he pulled Gakpo into a warm embrace.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, ruffling Gakpo’s hair.
Gakpo, who’d seemed surprised at Klopp’s sudden affection, settled quite quickly. “I’ve dreamt of this for a while.”
Klopp let go of Gakpo, showing him the way into his office. “And you can keep dreaming here.”