Jurgen Klopp Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool are yet to decide on what the future holds for Ozan Kabak. But the Reds boss has given the 21-year-old defender a glowing recommendation ahead of what promises to be an interesting summer at Anfield. Kabak is unlikely to feature on Sunday through injury as Klopp’s side conclude their Premier League campaign at home to Crystal Palace, meaning the Turkey international may theoretically have played his last match for the Reds.
The player himself is keen to stay put on Merseyside
Ozan Kabak said: “It’s Liverpool. Of course I want to stay.”
Klopp, though, is keeping his cards close to his chest and says they are in no rush to decide whether or not they want to make it permanent from the relegated German side.
Jurgen Klopp said: “Ozan was absolutely incredible, he did a great job. Not to forget he is a young, young boy with incredible experience already. He has been with different clubs, moved early from Turkey to Germany and played at two big clubs in Germany in difficult situations which were obviously not his fault, we could all see that when he arrived here. Yes, he took a little bit of time to adapt but he did super things for us. I don’t know how many games out but against Leipzig [in the Champions League] he was incredible, we knew how good Leipzig could be. About the future we will talk about it after that, and decide about it after the last match. There is obviously enough time for that, nothing else really to say about that.”
Liverpool are almost certain to finish inside the top four of the Premier League with victory over Palace this weekend. Should Chelsea fail to beat Aston Villa at Villa Park, the Reds could even finish as high as third, which would represent a remarkable achievement given their last defeat, at home to Fulham in March, left them 10 points off Leicester at the time. Asked if qualifying for the top four under the circumstances would mean as much as winning trophies at Anfield,
Jurgen Klopp added: “Yes it means as much to me, it means as much to me. It is clear we wouldn’t come to this situation if the boys wouldn’t have showed this kind of character. They have very special character. Life is like this. If you are not performing at your top level, you are questioned from time to time on your character and when you are starting to get back on your feel all of a sudden the character is there again but the character has not really challenged. Sometimes we suffer things, we don’t have a lot of influence on that. That’s why things go the wrong way but I never question the character or the mentality of this team. But it was a tough one, it is a tough one. Nobody wants to talk about this season before we play the last game. We are in a situation that this game is so decisive and it is absolutely great news, it is absolutely great news. It is almost like if you qualify for a final everything is perfect but you have to play the final, don’t forget that. We’ve experienced both ends of playing a final as a club and as a team. We want to be on the positive end of this final. For this we have to focus on the final. You would not ask me before our three other finals ‘whatever happens in the final, are you already happy with the way to Kiev, Basel or Madrid?’ Obviously I would have said, ‘yes, happy with that, but lets wait for the final piece’. That makes all the difference. That is what we are now thinking about. If you ever questioned the character of the players in a not so good periods, you have to ask yourself why you did that. The boys proved it now millions of times, it’s not about their mentality or character if something has gone wrong.”
