Wout Weghorst provides full reasoning behind touching Anfield sign before Man United loss

Wout Weghorst has provided the full reasoning behind touching the Anfield sign before Manchester United’s embarrassing 7-0 loss against Liverpool last week.

The Dutch forward was pictured touching the iconic ‘This Is Anfield’ sign in the tunnel ahead of the match and received backlash from the United fanbase afterwards.

He provided an explanation on his Instagram account after the game, saying that he was trying to put off international teammate Virgil van Dijk.

However, after being further pressed on the topic in a recent interview with the BBC, Weghorst further explained the situation and why he felt the need to clarify the situation for the United supporters.

“Of course, I know Virgil [van Dijk] well from the national team and we’re quite good,” he began. “In a coincidence, we were walking next to each other, he was a little bit in front of me.

“I remember, he’s touching always this and I was trying to touch his hand from behind and I was trying to ignore him a little bit and said to him ‘ I know your rituals, but not working today’, unfortunately, it didn’t work.

“But that was the only meaning and intention I had, and of course, I saw later on the message about being a Liverpool fan from my youth and I touch it for myself and everything.

“Normally I don’t really respond to anything like this but just because the fans from United is really amazing, for me also, I just wanted to clarify it.”

Weghorst has started all 15 games since joining the club on loan in January but has scored just twice. His value in other areas have been consistently praised by Erik ten Hag, however.

“I think he’s doing well as a striker or a number 10 in the midfield. I think he has intelligence from positions, very good anticipation, linking up and getting in front of the goal. In the defending part, he’s also very good in it,” said the manager.

The Dutch striker further went on to say that he understood the reaction to him touching the sign and admitted that his attempt to rile his opponent was not a good idea in hindsight when you consider how it looked.

“I totally understand [the backlash], because when you see the video like this or the pictures from behind, I see it also, it’s like ‘why should he touch this sign’, if I look back it wasn’t a smart thing to do.

“But for me, we shouldn’t make it bigger than it is, but I can understand from some people, and that’s why I wanted to explain to the fans.”

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