It’s been the season of ‘Klopp’s Kids’ and with so many of our academy players stepping up when needed, it’s no surprise that the manager is so keen to praise one in particular.
In the light of Ibou Konate’s possible injury, Jurgen Klopp was asked for his thoughts on whether Jarell Quansah could play against Manchester City and his progress: “Massive, massive development. Massive. He just stepped up. He came back and it wasn’t that everybody in the club was saying, ‘Yeah, he will be the next one.’
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“We knew he is a real talent, we knew he has massive strength, especially on the ball, stuff like this. But how will he deal with the next-quality Premier League strikers?
“How is that physically, stuff like this? We wanted to give us the chance and him the time to show that, and we thought the situation in the squad is right to do so.
“If you want, centre-half No.5 in that moment. Joey [Gomez] was not immediately planned as a right or left-back back-up, because we had obviously Conor [Bradley], who then got injured, and we had the two left-backs.
QSo it was not necessary, so we thought that was a good situation to have a look. He showed immediately that he wants to be in the team in each session and it’s a joy, a pure joy, to have him.”
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Injury to Joel Matip, versatility of Joe Gomez and full-back fitness issues have created the perfect storm for the 21-year-old to thrive this season.
You never know how and when your opportunity will crop up but you have to be ready for it and we can all agree that the Warrington-born defender has certainly done that.
You can watch Klopp’s comments on Jarell Quansah (from 17:16) via Liverpool FC on YouTube:
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