Gini Wijnaldum has been training with Liverpool for a week now following his £25m move from Newcastle, and has spoken to official website about working under his new manager Jurgen Klopp.
The Dutch midfield dynamo played under Steve McClaren and then Rafa Benitez for the relegated Toon last term, but indicates that Klopp’s sessions are more similar to the tactical, ball work he used to do in Holland with Feyenoord and PSV.
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“It’s tough but in pre-season, every training session is tough,” he began.
“You have to create a base for the season to come, so training is always hard. You will be tired after the training sessions, but that’s how pre-season works. It’s more than only hard work, it’s also technical and shape work which we are working on right now.
“Every trainer has his own training style, so Jürgen Klopp has his own style. It’s quite similar to some of the training I used to do in Holland because you play a lot of football. He will come and speak with me to ask me how I feel. He’s said if I need something, I can ask him. I feel at ease. He speaks to everyone, tries to help everyone and make everything clear. In training, if he sees that I have to do something different, he will stop and tell me ‘you have to do it like this…you need to be aware of this and that…’. In those situations, he’s also helping me.”
The 25-year-old could make his non-competitive debut for Liverpool at the weekend as we prepare to face AC Milan in the second friendly of the Tour of America.
Wijnaldum missed the Chelsea clash because he wasn’t fully match fit, but he should be prepared in time to face the Italians.
It’ll be mighty interesting to see where Klopp deploys his summer signing, too. Wijnaldum played on the left wing, at no.10 or deep in central midfield for Newcastle, and as of yet there’s no indication as to where Klopp’s plans for him lie.
Perhaps we’ll get an idea in the early hours of Sunday morning against AC Milan…
We reckon he’ll form part of a midfield three in a 4-3-3 formation most often. One side of Emre Can, with Jordan Henderson, James Milner or Marko Grujic on the other.