Marko Grujic made his first start for Serbia at the weekend in a 1-1 draw with Russia, and got a mixed reception for his performance.
Russian journalist Artur Petrosyan, who is the Editor of Sport-Express in his homeland, claimed that the 20-year-old looked overweight before he was substituted early on.
Grujic looks overweight. 3-4 extra kilos. Tough summer under Klopp ahead…
— Artur Petrosyan (@arturpetrosyan) June 5, 2016
Grujic replaced at half-time. Average perfomance. Pretty slow and heavy. Kinda reminded Emre Can in the first half of last season.
— Artur Petrosyan (@arturpetrosyan) June 5, 2016
Liverpool completed the deal for Grujic in January, but the midfielder decided to spend the second half of last season with parent club Red Star Belgrade, before joining up with his new team-mates this summer.
If Petrosyan’s claims are correct, then Grujic will indeed have a tough summer, but if it gets him physically prepared for the new season, then so be it.
It’s perhaps unfair to read too much into an international friendly, especially when his country Serbia are not competing at Euro 2016 so are probably already on the beach.
While Petrosyan criticised Grujic, commentator John Bradley claimed he was decent – although said you couldn’t form a proper opinion because the match was so dull.
Hard to judge a player on that 45, but Marko Grujic has been tidy and moved the ball well. That said, my Gran could have played in that half
— John Bradley (@JBcommentator) June 5, 2016
We have high hopes for the youngster, and cannot wait to see him in action during pre-season. If he lives up to the hype, we’ll have some player on our hands.