Jurgen Klopp has spoken out about our new boy Dominic Solanke as the former Chelsea striker showed his prowess in front of goal by scoring in the 2-0 win over Crystal Palace during the Premier League Asia Trophy competition.
The 19-year-old joined us after his contract with the Blues ended but Klopp only saw clips of the youngster in action as the deal was completed. Solanke is one of the brightest talents in England and proved his talent in the U20 World Cup where he won the Golden Ball award and led the English side to the title.
Klopp was speaking to the Liverpool Echo and stated that he was happy that Solanke was to join us:
“The only thing I can say is the first time I heard that Dominic wants to come, I was really happy about that.”
The German however, added that getting information and clips of the player was a little difficult but over time he too was onboard and was excited about capturing Solanke.
“But it was difficult to find footage about him. It was a long time since he played so it was hard.
“The only thing we could get was a little bit of him playing in Holland (on loan for Vitesse Arnhem) and a bit of under-20s or under-19s. That’s not the best footage.
“Everyone in England knew him but I had no idea about him. I started to learn more and more and I trust the guys around us, the scouts, so I said: ‘Let’s do it.’”
There were some glowing tributes for the Englishman as Klopp hailed him as a “nice project” to work on but he did add that Solanke has to work hard and improve some aspects of his game.
“I’ve seen a lot of skilled boys in my life and he looks like a nice project. Everything is really good, really clear. He’s extremely football smart and focused. You see the movement. He has to improve in a lot of ways but he’s a good boy.”
Solanke couldn’t break it into the Chelsea side and often spent time out on loan. However, he does seem to have a fire to prove his worth to us and winning the U20 World Cup would have increased his confidence ahead of the season.
Should Klopp and his coaching staff work well with the youngster, we might have scored a diamond in the rough for next to nothing and that would certainly be a credit to our scouting network.
