Borussia Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp has admitted
that he was surprised that Manchester United were
willing to let Shinji Kagawa leave the club.
The Japan international left BVB for Old Trafford two
years ago but returned to his old club after two
frustrating seasons in England and marked his
second debut with a goal in Saturday's win over
Freiburg.
"I was kind of surprised Kagawa was on the market
again," he told reporters.
"His first year at Manchester United was Sir Alex
Ferguson's last year, so that isn't the time to develop
players. The only thing you want at that stage is
results and titles.
"Kagawa's second year at United was the first year of
the new coach, so that's also all about results. Then
there was a third manager with a very successful
philosophy [Louis van Gaal].
"So we saw the chance to sign Kagawa and we took
it. Kagawa was sensational against Freiburg."
BVB take on Arsenal in their opening Champions
League game on Tuesday and Klopp believes the
addition of Alexis Sanchez will see them play more
offensively than they did when the two teams met
last term.
"Arsenal have new players in their squad and the
last time we played them they had players with
injuries like Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey," he
said.
"Now they have new players like Alexis Sanchez.
Olivier Giroud can't play but when you look at their
squad they have a lot of alternatives.
"Arsenal played very defensively here last year. But
you have to say that our Champions League is
starting against a great team. Arsenal are a very hard
opponent and I think they did a great job on transfers
over the summer.
"Now their squad has great stability and they're
actually able to play the type of football that Arsene
Wenger wants to see."