Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been singing the praises of Jarrod Bowen amid talk of the Reds launching a summer transfer raid for the in-form West Ham winger.
A star turn for the top four-chasing Hammers has registered eight goals and 10 assists this season, with there suggestions that he could soon come into contention for a first England call-up.
There are also rumours of big-money bids being readied ahead of the next window, with title hopefuls Liverpool among those said to be keeping a close eye on the development of the 25-year-old.
What has been said?
Klopp is clearly a fan of a player said to be in his sights, with the German telling reporters ahead of a home date with West Ham on Saturday: “Bowen – what a player he became.
“Unbelievable. We saw him as well at Hull and he was really good at that time. I’m not sure a lot of people expected this jump, but unbelievable player.
“[Said] Benrahma, outstanding. [Pablo] Fornals, outstanding. [Michail] Antonio, outstanding. But we are not bad as well and that is what we have to let them feel. In the [previous game] against West Ham I don’t think we did that because we were not ourselves, at least not to 100 per cent.”
Liverpool injury update
Getty ImagesLiverpool suffered a 3-2 defeat at the London Stadium in November, with Alisson enduring an outing to forget against the Hammers.
Klopp has, however, fired his side back into contention for another Premier League crown since then and is hoping to collect a 12th successive victory in all competitions while extending a 15-match unbeaten run.
He does have a number of injury concerns to contend with, but the Reds have worked hard to ensure that cover is available to them in every position.
Klopp said when delivering an update on those that have been nursing knocks and illness: “Strength in depth is really important, no doubt about that, especially when you have to play different competitions. But we have players who are not available.
“I'm pretty sure that nobody will tell me differently because yesterday he didn't train, Thiago will not be available for tomorrow.
“Curtis [Jones] is not bad but if it is good enough to go again tomorrow, I don't know.
“Joel Matip is ill – no Covid, nowadays you can be ill in different ways as well – so he will not be available.
“So all of a sudden, we played a tough game midweek, all these kind of things, so we still wait a little bit for who is how in which moment. So from eight midfielders – Naby [Keita] we don’t know – to four midfielders in a week, that can happen easily.
“So it's not nothing as well that we, like, enjoy, ‘Oh my God, we have the full choice.' You have the full choice one day and then the other days you don't have it.
“So we have to make sure that we stay as fit as possible because we have a lot of games to play in these upcoming months.”
He added: “Naby was not in the squad on Wednesday. Bobby is looking good but not good enough for the weekend. I think the plan is that he trains on Sunday, first time. That sounds then doable for Tuesday [for the second leg of a Champions League last-16 clash with Inter].”
