For anyone who hasn’t cast eyes on Martin Skrtel for a while, his appearance can come as a shock.
Famed for his aggressively-shaven head during his playing days at Liverpool, the former defender strides into the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Singapore with a fine head of hair.
“It’s not fake!” he laughs. “A lot of people have now said that I do not look as scary or ugly any more, so I think I will keep it!”
That, though, is nothing compared to how Skrtel is now enjoying his football. Having retired professional in 2022, the former centre-back is keeping a promise by turning out for local club FK Hajskala Raztocno.
“You wouldn’t believe it, but I’m the striker for them now!” he says to the ECHO. “Actually, I’m more of a Messi-style player in that I just go where I want. When I left my village at 15 to play professionally, I said to my friends that one day when I have retired that I would come back and play with them again.
“And they remembered that, so in the last few years of my career they’d be calling me saying, ‘just finish, we want to play with you again!’. Then when I retired, obviously my fitness wasn’t the best but I wanted to fulfil my promise, so I went back.
“It’s the lowest division in Slovakia, the level isn’t the best. In the first game I was at centre-back, and I like to pass the ball out from the back but there wasn’t anyone to pass to. So I said to the coach, ‘maybe I should go to the midfield and have the ball a bit more’. So I stayed there all season and scored a few goals. I enjoy it because it’s different. You’re just playing the game and afterwards can have a few beers. It’s great!”
Skrtel, now 38, was among the group of former players invited to join Liverpool’s tour of Singapore. And he has enjoyed seeing a few familiar faces after leaving in the summer of 2016 at the end of Jurgen Klopp’s first season in charge.
“To be a part of the club again and see how the fans are happy to see me again is something special and an honour for me,” he says. “I am thankful for it. Unfortunately I’ve only been back three to Anfield three times since I left as I was always busy playing. I came back for two Legends games and also for an appearance there as we are doing a movie about my career. I was there filming some stuff. It’s always nice to come back. Now I’m retired I have more free time and hopefully I’ll be able to come back more often.”
The Liverpool chapter of Skrtel’s cinematic debut started when he arrived from Zenit St Petersburg for £6.5million in January 2008. But while aware there was a chance of moving to Merseyside, that it was to Anfield was a surprise to the ex-Slovakia international.
“It’s quite a funny story,” he says. “I was always dreaming about going to England and was talking to my agent a lot about it. Just before I signed for Liverpool, I played with Zenit in the UEFA Cup against Everton at Goodison, and there were rumours after the game that Everton were asking about me.
“At that moment I wasn’t thinking about a particular club, I just wanted to go to England and told my agent that if he could find something, then it would be great.
“Then he called mebe travelling to England for talks with a club, and in my mind I thought it was going to be Everton. But then when he said it was Liverpool, I was in shock. I would never dream about joining such a big club with so many big players. It was a great moment for me and my family and I’m very happy it turned out that way.”
Skrtel went on to play more than 300 games for the Reds, scoring in the League Cup final win over Cardiff City in 2012 and named player of the season for 2011/12. However, his first start for the club, in the FA Cup against Havant & Waterlooville, didn’t exactly go to plan.
“If I’m being honest the beginning of my Liverpool career wasn’t the best,” he says, having been credited with an own goal that afternoon. “I came as an unknown player without a lot of experience and the people maybe had big expectations from me when I signed.
“But I just tried to do my best and try to learn from my team-mates and improve every day. At that moment, Rafa Benitez was helping me a lot, supporting me all the time and tried to give me more confidence. Then my time with Liverpool got better and better.”
Skrtel is one of few players to have played under five different managers at Liverpool, having started with Benitez, worked with Roy Hodgson, Kenny Dalglish and Brendan Rodgers, and then finally Jurgen Klopp.
“Every single one was different,” he says. “Rafa brought me to the club, he was the first big manager I’d met although I was with Dick Advocaat at Zenit.
