Following a tough debut for Liverpool in the harrowing 3-1 defeat to Leicester at the weekend, Ozan Kabak produced a confident performance to help his side along to a clean sheet in the first-leg of their Last 16 Champions League tie.
Jurgen Klopp’s men came away with a 2-0 victory, handing the Reds an advantage going into the second-leg in March.
A number of fans were left impressed by the Turkey international’s first European outing for the club, with our No.19 appearing to benefit from Jordan Henderson’s leadership in the back four.
We shouldn’t take away anything from the centre-half last night, however, with Kabak beginning to demonstrate why he was touted as such a highly-rated defender in Germany.
Available for a potential bargain fee of £18m in the summer, via an option to buy, the on loan Schalke man could prove to be an absolute steal, should Klopp be sufficiently impressed by what he’s seen come the season end.
With Joel Matip’s fitness levels proving to be somewhat unreliable, Liverpool’s top transfer priority during the summer transfer window will undoubtedly be to bring in another centre-back.
Losing both Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez to long-term injuries is a freak occurrence that we imagine won’t be repeated anytime soon, but it just makes sense for the club to ensure that room is not left for such a scenario to rear its ugly head once more next term.
Have a look at the selected tweets below:
Ozan Kabak with a monstrous performance in a tough CL away game at just 20 years old🇹🇷 pic.twitter.com/ZLqZ7FpR6X
— 🇧🇸 (@TheImmortalKop) February 16, 2021
I like how he passes forward quickly in to midfield, rather than the slow side to side we’ve seen too much of recently. Will be a good player for us.
— Craig Barker (@ChewBarker78) February 17, 2021
https://twitter.com/SMXLFC/status/1361984205081698304
Big Ozzy Kabak, by the way.
20-years-old, been here a week, and strolling through an away Champions League knockout tie like it was a piece of piss.
Is right lad @ozankabak4
— The Anfield Wrap (@TheAnfieldWrap) February 16, 2021
That Fabinho-Kabak partnership is gonna bang
— Ahmed 🇵🇸 (@ahmedIdn) February 16, 2021