Jurgen Klopp has given a rather left-field answer when probed by journalists about his best ever Liverpool signing.
Despite the fact he came through the Academy, and was therefore not signed at all, Trent Alexander-Arnold was the player Liverpool’s manager picked.
Considering the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Alisson – to name but a few – have arrived under Klopp’s stewardship, it’s high-praise indeed!
Klopp explains that while Trent’s footballing ability was never in question, the player had to get up to scratch physically to win a spot in the team.
“It’s Trent [Alexander-Arnold],” Klopp tells the Pure Football Podcast.
“We didn’t have to buy him but Pep Lijnders my assistant brought him around and said: ‘He played No.6 [role] for me. He played full-back, he played right wing, left wing’.
“Then he came and there was only one problem: Trent was not fit enough.
“But he was a kid so he was not fit enough but we saw immediately, wow, football wise no doubts.
“But [he was] not fit enough so we had to work on that. But then he made steps by himself that were really unbelievable and that was really nice to see.
“Then he made mistakes and didn’t give up.”
Trent is the best right-back on the planet and actually the most important player creatively in our side.
His crossing from the right and his long balls are second to none and are the basis of many of our attacks.
The scary thing is, he’s only 21-years-old. He’s not even close to his prime yet. Over the next decade, he could establish himself as one of the best right-backs of all time. The position might need to be renamed, in fact!