Jurgen Klopp has spoken of his admiration for Liverpool youngster Ki Jana Hoever, after his performances in pre-season.
The German boss appreciates that he asks a lot of his players, and he doesn’t like to tell them ‘too much’ as he wants them to adapt.
Klopp has always been keen on players who can play in different roles; we’ve seen James Milner at left-back, Fabinho at centre-back and Adam Lallana as a holding midfielder.
And that sort of versatility is something that the manager also sees in young Hoever. “Ki-Jana is a wonderful kid and a sensational young player who can learn so much,” he told the club’s official site. “Especially in the Napoli game when he came on, on the left side, it was maybe his best 15 minutes in the pre-season.
“The boys try to adapt to what we ask them for; we don’t tell them too much because we want them young and fresh and open. Take the information from the training pitch because if I tell them something, they are like soldiers and it’s not the right thing.
“Information is not there to delete all the other information you had before and to start thinking what the boss wants. They are with us. They had all the development they did without me – and that’s why we let them go [early from the Evian training camp].
“You can from time to time, especially the physical demands were really heavy for him to take. You forget so quickly these boys are so young. He’s still 17, it’s just crazy. But everything will be fine, he’s a fantastic footballer and I’m really happy that we have him for longer.”
The Dutch youngster made five first-team appearances during pre-season, and looked comfortable in the surroundings of senior football shortly after signing his first professional contract.