Two decades on from his single season at Anfield, Christian Ziege has claimed he had “no relationship” with his Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier.
Ziege made a controversial transfer to the Reds in 2000 when they got wind of his £5.5million release clause at Middlesbrough.
The Teessiders complained of an illegal approach, claiming they had offers of £8million from other clubs, and Liverpool were later fined £20,000 and the player £10,000 by the Football Association.
However, despite Ziege’s stellar reputation – he was an established German international who had previously played for Bayern Munich and AC Milan – Kopites were left wondering whether he had been worth all the hassle after he was packed off to Tottenham Hotspur after one injury-hit year at Anfield.
Although Liverpool won a cup treble that season, Jamie Carragher got the nod at left-back for all three finals, despite going on to spend the bulk of his career at centre-back, with Ziege, a specialist in that position, only getting game time as an extra-time substitute in the League Cup final against second tier Birmingham City although he did find the net in the resultant penalty shoot-out victory.
Ziege would make 32 appearances in total for the Reds that term but only half of those came in the Premier League.
Now head coach of Austrian third division side Pinzgau, Ziege, 48, told Planet Football : “On one hand, I can’t regret this move because I played one season for Liverpool.
“What a club. In that season we qualified for the Champions League and won the League Cup, the FA Cup and the UEFA Cup.
“But, for me personally, it didn’t work with Houllier. Playing-wise, I should have stayed at Middlesbrough for at least another season, or maybe longer.
“There was no relationship (with Houllier). I was training hard and I asked all the assistant coaches, and my team-mates, ‘What am I doing wrong? What can I do better? Do I have to train more?’
“Everybody said, ‘No, you’re doing everything you should do and you’re training well.’
“He never told me (why I wasn’t playing). Maybe he doesn’t have to – no problem – but I can’t tell you what the reason was.
“There was no relationship between him as a manager and me as a player.”
