How can you not love Adebayo Akinfenwa?

It’s been quite the 24 hours for the Wycombe forward Adebayo Akinfenwa. After his team clinched promotion to the Championship at Wembley on Monday, the lifelong Liverpool fan got a WhatsApp message from Jürgen Klopp – and an invitation to the Reds’ title parade.

In a memorable post-match interview with Sky Sports, Akinfenwa had reflected on a four-year journey from being “technically unemployed” to helping Wycombe into the second tier for the first time in their history. The 38-year old added that his day could only get better if Klopp were to “hit me up on WhatsApp”.

The Liverpool manager duly obliged, after hearing of Akinfenwa’s request from Jordan Henderson. On Tuesday, Klopp revealed that the pair plan to meet up, and the Wycombe forward will attend the team’s title parade – whenever it is possible for that to take place.

“I saw when he was sitting in the team meeting in a Liverpool kit, which I thought was really funny,” Klopp said. “I watched the game and he sent a video back,” he added, although he kept the details to himself. “At least a few things in life should stay private. It was nice, he was obviously really happy.”

“He is invited for the parade, 100%. As a player I was in similar situations. Football meant everything to me before somebody thought: ‘It’s worth giving him some money for it,’ and that never changed.”

As a player, Klopp spent much of his career in the amateur leagues, before a decade with second-tier Mainz, whom he eventually led to promotion into the Bundesliga as manager. “I just enjoy these kind of stories,” Klopp said. “I always will love this game because you can fulfil your own dreams, it just depends on the dreams.”

Akinfenwa responded to official confirmation of his invite by tweeting: “This is getting silly now, I’m smiling like a grown kid.” The journeyman forward’s contract at Adams Park runs out this summer, although a more permanent trip to Merseyside appears unlikely.