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Jurgen Klopp admits he is looking forward to the return of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, calling the star a “difference maker” for Liverpool.
The English international is set to make his first team-of-the-match appearance this season in Fulham on Sunday. This is due to the knee injury suffered by Oxlade-Chamberlain during the preseason.
It will be the 27-year-old’s second comeback from a knee problem, although this time much less serious. At the time, Oxlade-Chamberlain was out of the game for 366 days after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament, tearing his lateral collateral ligament, damaging his medial ligament, and ripping a hamstring from the bone in an inning during a League semi-final. of Champions.
Interestingly, there was some criticism of the player’s performances after he first returned. Klopp, however, insists they were unfair and has given the player resounding endorsement.
“To be honest, I don’t understand these kinds of discussions. You have to hurt yourself once in your life to understand how difficult it is to find everything completely natural and normal again after that, ”he said.
“Being compared to the best moment of your career after coming back from injury is really silly. ‘Oh it’s not that good anymore’, I don’t have time for that.
“Ox is an outstanding player, an outstanding player, always was and always will be.
“In training, what Ox did so far you can see his quality right away. Immediately. He is a difference maker, you can see that.
“Did you always play perfectly well? No. But he had some really good games that helped us a lot.
“The longer you can stay injury free, the better off you will be. This time we are really sure that we can do it until the end of his career ”.
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Oxlade-Chamberlain has been lost
Liverpool have missed Oxlade-Chamberlain’s drive and scoring ability from midfield. Now Klopp is confident that it won’t be long before they see it again.
And he believes the team will benefit from having the midfielder back.
“He is a very positive person, a very optimistic person. At a time when Ox rejoins parts of team training, everyone benefits from it. That’s how he is, ”Klopp added.
“You don’t know that you miss him because he’s not around for long and then the moment he comes in and he’s in the gym with the players, they say ‘Okay, sure … it’s much better when he’s here. . That’s Ox.
“In the first weeks, the children get all the help they need, but then, especially with Ox, he’s the one who gives energy, he doesn’t need too much energy from other people.”
READ MORE: Former Liverpool player rejected talks about his ‘delicate’ stint at Anfield
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