Marko Grujic is loving life at Liverpool, even if he hasn’t seen much game-time so far.
The young Serb was signed in January, but spent the remainder of last season on loan at parent club Red Star Belgrade, before joining up with Liverpool in the summer.
He was excellent during pre-season, but due to the form of Jordan Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum and Adam Lallana, chances have been limited to EFL Cup starts.
According to the player, he can match his team-mates, if he learns the defensive side of the game – something he’s currently not too familiar with…
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“The players are fantastic. I play with some incredible players,” Grujic told the official website.
“We have such a good team and good players. We have played very well at the start of the season. Our position shows how strong we are.
“Of course, I try to learn and see how our other midfielders work – Adam, Jordan, Gini and everyone are very good in defensive abilities.
“That’s what I try to learn and save in my mind and use. That’s important for young players, to try to learn from the older guys.”
“I know Phil from when he played at Inter and he showed some crazy technical abilities.
“But it was very hard for him when he came, to adapt to faster football and much more physical football. Roberto was the same – he had small problems for adapting when he came too.
“But now look at how they play, scoring many goals and they are heroes for our fans. That’s what I will try to do and make for myself.
“If I’m on the bench or not in the squad for a league game, the coach sees that maybe I need 90 minutes and asks me if I want [to play for the U23s],” Grujic continued.
“Of course, I’m always ready for the games. I don’t care if it’s the first team or U23s – I know I need more minutes to play against other players and see where I am. It’s very important for me to play games.
“I’m always pleased when I play with these guys – they have a lot of good players. It was good to get 90 minutes, because every training session is important but a game is a game.”
From a 20-year-old, these quotes are impressive. Grujic isn’t downhearted by his time on the sidelines and is in fact just willing to keep on improving and adapt to Jurgen Klopp’s style.
It’s obvious our manager rates him highly; he was the first permanent signing of the Klopp tenure – and we’re looking forward to seeing him again later in the month.
We suspect Grujic’s next start will come at home to Leeds in the EFL Cup in a few weeks, likely in one of the advanced midfield positions.