Nuri Sahin explains how Jurgen Klopp reacted when he asked to join Real Madrid

Nuri Sahin has revealed Jurgen Klopp told him to "follow his heart" when he asked to leave Borussia Dortmund for Real Madrid.

Sahin had been at the Westfalenstadion since the age of 12, but when Madrid manager Jose Mourinho came calling in May 2011, the midfielder had a difficult decision to make.

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The Turkey international, who had helped Dortmund win the league in the 2010/11 season, has opened up about the difficult decision and revealed Klopp - now bidding to keep Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool amid renewed interest from Barcelona - gave him his blessing.

"After we won the Bundesliga in 2011, I got a text from my agent," Sahin recalls while writing on The Players' Tribune.

"Hey Nuri, Real Madrid wants you."

"It's kind of funny that it just happened like that. Through a text. It wasn't like you imagine when you're a kid.

"I had heard my name mentioned in transfer rumours before, but never with Real Madrid. And now, here they were. The white kits, the Bernabeu, the history. And I remembered the promise that I'd made to myself all those years ago.

Jurgen understood and he told me to follow my heart

"There was a part of me that wanted to say 'no'. Dortmund had given me so much - how could I leave them? It was hard to think about. I lost sleep. I talked for hours with my wife and family.

"But I had to speak with Dortmund's manager, Jurgen Klopp, before I could decide. I will remember our conversation forever."

Sahin revealed the then-Dortmund manager was empathetic with his player's predicament, telling him to follow his heart.

"Nuri, it is your choice," he told me. "But if you leave, you must know, I will always be on your side. You are my friend forever."

"If I stay," I said, "I will think about life in Madrid. I will be in Dortmund physically, but mentally … I'll be lost. I couldn't live like that." And I told him that I only had one life to live - that I didn't want to regret any part of it.

"Jurgen understood, and he told me to follow my heart. A few hours later, I announced my decision."