Come in no5…

HE LOVES WORKING WITH JÜRGEN KLOPP…

“I like the fact he's not pretending to be somebody – he is the character he is. That's him. In training we see it every day and I've never met a trainer like him. He really cares about football and the players and tries to make us better. Of course he can get mad or annoyed but only if we don't do the things we are good at. For example, if you are a good dribbler then he wants you to dribble – in the right areas of course. He always tells us that he wants us to use our big qualities to the maximum and gives us a lot of confidence.”

AS A KID HE ASKED FERNANDO TORRES FOR HIS SHIRT…

“It was August 2007, I was 16 and on the subs' bench for Feyenoord in a pre-season friendly against Liverpool FC. It was in something called the Port of Rotterdam Tournament. After the game there were some arguments between the players [after a late penalty was awarded to the hosts] but I spotted Torres standing there. I liked him because of the way he played and scored goals – he was a really good player – so I went over and asked if we could swap shirts. I still have the shirt – it's back in Rotterdam in my house but I haven’t had it framed yet.”

HE MIGHT HAVE BEEN A WORLD-CLASS GYMNAST…

“I loved it even more than football at one point, but my grandmother [whom he lived with for a while in Rotterdam] felt it was dangerous. She thought it would be better to concentrate on football. Her main reason was that it would keep me out of trouble, and she also knew I really liked it. She just saw it as a hobby that I liked and encouraged me from there; for her it was all about enjoying the game. But when I made my debut for Feyenoord at 16 and became a professional, she insisted that I stay at school for a few more years. My grandmother means everything to me and I wanted to do it for her.”

HIS FOOTBALLING IDOLS WEREN'T JUST DUTCH…

“At the beginning I didn't see loads of football on TV because I was busy with gymnastics. Then when I started watching games I focused most on the players who could entertain. Ronaldinho, during his time at Barcelona, was great to watch because he seemed to just love playing. I think he must be one of the few Barca players to get applauded at the Bernabeu in Madrid because he was so good. Zinedine Zidane was the same, he was my hero. Dennis Bergkamp, too, and Clarence Seedorf because he was from Surinam, the same place as my mum. It was usually the entertainers who caught my eye because I enjoyed watching them so much.”

HE POSTS A MEAN SOCIAL-MEDIA PIC!

Wijnaldum has nearly 400,000 followers on his Instagram page and posted this image after he scored Liverpool FC's sixth and final goal against Watford at Anfield – a victory which took the Reds to the summit of the Premier League. He wrote: “Top of the table! Really happy with my first goal for Liverpool!” We were all delighted too, Gini, and let's hope there are loads more to come!