Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet opens up on being given the chop by Jurgen Klopp and his uncle's fight against Motor Neurone Disease: 'Being dropped always makes me stronger'

Simon Mignolet is here to talk about the bigger picture, actually. The plight of his uncle, Erwin Coppejans, who is contending with an illness so brutal and unsparing that he is more diminished by it each time they see each other. 

And if that means discussing how Jurgen Klopp told him he would be dropped in the full glare of a televised Liverpool v Arsenal match, then so be it. 

'It was at the training ground the day before,' Mignolet says of the moment that the manager called him in to say that Loris Karius would be selected, two weeks ago.  

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is a man who has life firmly in perspective

Liverpool goalkeeper Simon Mignolet is a man who has life firmly in perspective

There was plenty of attention on Mignolet as he sat in the stands during the win at Anfield

There was plenty of attention on Mignolet as he sat in the stands during the win at Anfield

And though the 29-year-old makes light of this, something Klopp did not say in that brief exchange in the office must have left a part of him wondering what lay ahead this time. 


There was no indication for Mignolet that he would be back in the side to face Manchester City this Saturday, which the manager has since said will '100 per cent' be the case. 'No, it was not [mentioned] at that moment in time,' the Belgian says. 'We were speaking about Arsenal and after that we don't think about what's coming next.' 

When Mignolet last dropped out the picture, last season, it took him two months to make it back.

Neither was there any discussion of the notion presently doing the rounds that Mignolet will be Liverpool's Premier League goalkeeper this season, while the 24-year-old German will play in the Champions League, for which Arsenal was perhaps a preparation. 

Mignolet certainly does not see the scope of the season that way. 'No, no, I don't think that's my understanding,' he replies. A major contribution to both campaigns is his aim. 'Like any professional football player, you want to play every game. But those decisions are made for you and that's up to the guy who is in charge of that and that's the boss.'

Loris Karius played for Liverpool in the 4-0 victory over Arsenal and he kept a clean sheet 

Loris Karius played for Liverpool in the 4-0 victory over Arsenal and he kept a clean sheet 

But Mignolet is expected to return to the side when Liverpool take on Manchester City

But Mignolet is expected to return to the side when Liverpool take on Manchester City

The surroundings for our meeting — 'Mr Gow's science room' at the St Francis de Sales Catholic junior school, which radiates warmth in Liverpool's Walton district — seem a very long way from that afternoon down at Anfield before the international break. 

But uncertainty is nothing new. We last met nearly three years ago, a few months after Brendan Rodgers had taken him aside at Melwood and told him that Brad Jones — who had played 10 league games in four years — would be starting at Old Trafford the following day. His managers certainly pick their moments. 

He expresses no fear of a repeat of last season's extended absence. 'This wasn't a punishment [for] bad performances or anything like that. I don't really see last week in the same manner as what happened before.' 

But the past does seem to inform the present for him. 'It makes you stronger,' he observes. 'I've been five years at Liverpool and in all these stages throughout my career one thing that always comes back is that I managed to fight back and be stronger than before.

The Belgium international was left out of his side's eventual 4-0 victory over Arsenal

The Belgium international was left out of his side's eventual 4-0 victory over Arsenal

His uncle's struggles with Motor Neurone Disease has put his life in perspective

His uncle's struggles with Motor Neurone Disease has put his life in perspective

'And in a certain way that's something I'm proud of. That's making a negative a positive and that's not always something that's easy. I'll never let my head down. What's behind you is behind you and there's only one way. Go forward. Try to change the things you can do.'

His readiness to discuss all this — after meeting schoolchildren as part of his club's Red Neighbours programme which helps communities near Anfield — is unusual in these buttoned-up days of football platitudes. 

'In Belgium they say, 'from a fly becomes an elephant,' he muses. 'Something gets thrown in the air and from being a small thing it becomes a big thing.' 

He's always had an unusually broad perspective, though, and witnessing the eight-year struggle of his uncle, Erwin, as he contends with motor neurone disease certainly contributes to that. 

There are a million small sorrows attached to the diminution of this life-affirming individual — the husband of Mignolet's mother's sister Heidi — who as a successful amateur player encouraged the goalkeeper in his own career. 'Yes, he supported me from whenever, right from the start.' 

Mignolet supports the Motor Neurone Disease Association and a charity in Belgium

Mignolet supports the Motor Neurone Disease Association and a charity in Belgium

Despite being dropped, Mignolet is a man who deals with the uncertainty of football well

Despite being dropped, Mignolet is a man who deals with the uncertainty of football well

MIGNOLET'S CV

Sint Truden: 2006-10

Sunderland: 2010-12

Liverpool: 2012-present

 

Belgium caps: 17 

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The fact they see each other only intermittently accentuates the sadness. 'I don't really go back very often,' Mignolet reflects. 'I'm maybe not there for two, three months. So the changes in him, the way he is going backwards, strike you more. If you see him every day, the illness is affecting him step by step.'

The neurological condition affects nerve cells, gradually removing the ability to speak, walk, swallow and move. 'It started with his hands,' Mignolet relates. 'Then went to his legs, then there was difficulty with reading, eating, sleeping; normal things which are probably the most difficult to deal with.' 

Mignolet's cousins — his uncle's daughters — have had tests which have mercifully established that they are not among the 10 per cent for whom this disease is hereditary. 

'There is medication to slow the process down but in the end it's incurable,' he says. 'The other thing which is hard about this disease is that you don't go backwards in your mind. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease too but those who have it are not really aware of it. My uncle has the same brain, the same idea that he did when he was really healthy, eight or nine years ago. He knows what is happening. That's tough to deal with mentally.'

The Belgian goalkeeper, pictured in training at Liverpool's Melwood base earlier this week

The Belgian goalkeeper, pictured in training at Liverpool's Melwood base earlier this week

Mignolet spoke with children at St Francis de Sales Catholic junior school in Liverpool

Mignolet spoke with children at St Francis de Sales Catholic junior school in Liverpool

Their mutual affection is graphically apparent. Erwin regularly shares the tweets through which Mignolet charts his professional life in England, where he and his Belgian wife, Jasmien Claes, have settled at Warrington.

Mignolet has thrown himself into support for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and supports a specialist Belgian charity, ALS Liga, with the charity ball he organised in the summer helping. The Belgian national team are also helping. 'You do what you can, he says. 'My aunty has a job as a teacher to juggle, too. The family are struggling.'

His bond with his Flemish home city of Sint-Truiden is unmistakable. It's where he's opened the ‘twentytwo’ coffee shop (his Liverpool squad number) with a level of involvement including selecting the be ans for the home-brewed coffee. 

'The thought of a coffee shop in Belgium came from here,' he says. 'Over there it's different. When you think of coffee you go into a brasserie or a restaurant and there's less of a culture of takeout coffee houses. My wife and I have become used to coffee as a part of life. That's given us some of the know-how.'

A life beyond football creates perspective. But while his university degree in political sciences is part of the hinterland — the British electoral system was one of his chosen subjects — he will be playing into his 40s if fitness allows. 'Goalkeepers can do that,' he says.

Mignolet met the schoolchildren as part of his club¿s Red Neighbours programme

Mignolet met the schoolchildren as part of his club's Red Neighbours programme

He believes that experience has made him as good a player as he has ever been, with the importance Klopp ascribes to the goalkeeper's role in the outfield game forming a part of his Mignolet's development, as the Belgian sees it.

'It's the whole team that has to work as a machine,' he says, citing his own distribution which set in chain a process leading to Emre Can's goal against Hoffenheim in the recent Champions League qualifier. 

'That was the first word the boss said when he arrived at Liverpool Football Club — be 'a machine', be all together. [It's] not only [distribution from me] but communication and the space you have to [use] behind the defence. That's a lot more important than a penalty save you have to make in the game which is the obvious one and jumps into the eye.'

So critics feed on the 'obvious', perhaps? 'That's the life we live in these days,' he reflects. 'Not only for footballers, for everyone. It's part of being a footballer, especially a goalkeeper. That comes with the fact that every goal goes past you, you are the last man standing in the space trying to stop it. You must have broad shoulders.'

And with that he is away, to continue a week of training which has gone well, whatever uncertainties he might have entertained heading into it. 

One of the messages his uncle Erwin retweeted perhaps encapsulates best what has made him a survivor and a hugely engaging one, at that. 'Successful people believe in things,’ it stated. ‘Even when no one else does.'

The 29-year-old has a university degree in political sciences and owns a coffee shop

The 29-year-old has a university degree in political sciences and owns a coffee shop