‘I didn’t feel loved and appreciated’ – Ex-Liverpool star opens up on fan abuse and role it played in exit

If Liverpool fans were hoping for Wijnaldum to speak out against the club’s owners in wake of his departure, they’re going to be felt sorely disappointed.

Instead, Wijnaldum has spoken to the Telegraph and detailed how FAN criticism on social media eventually led to his exit from the club.

“Well, yeah, there was a moment I didn’t feel loved and appreciated. Not my team-mates, not the people at Melwood. From them I know, I can say they all love me and I love them. It was not from that side. More the other side. There was a moment that I didn’t feel appreciated and loved and I have to say also there was social media.”

“When it went bad I was the player who they blamed – [saying] that I wanted to leave. Every day in training and in the game I gave everything I had. During the years Liverpool meant so much to me and also the [positive] way the fans in the stadium were treating me. The fans in the stadium and the fans on social media – my feeling was that they were two different things.”

“In the stadium, I can say nothing bad about them. They always supported me. And even when they came back, already knowing that I was going to leave, they still supported me and they gave me a great farewell. On social media, if we lost I was the one who got the blame. There would be moments when I was like ‘Wow, if they only knew what I was doing to stay fit and play every game’.”

It’d be wrong to suggest that FSG are entirely exempt from blame, but perhaps this ought to serve as a lesson for Liverpool supporters to feel as though their words on social media carry no weight.

The club has lost one of its finest players without receiving a penny in exchange, partially due to the harsh words said by fans on social media platforms.

If that won’t give them a wake up call, nothing will…

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