I’m Really Happy To Have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain – Klopp

Jurgen Klopp says there may have been unfair expectations placed on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain when he first joined at Arsenal as a youngster.

Oxlade-Chamberlain joined Arsenal as a 17-year-old from Southampton in 2011 for a fee of £15m, which Klopp feels may have placed unnecessary pressure on a young player.

“When Alex was probably 18 or 19, people thought he could be ‘the’ man — how a lot of people think a lot of the time pretty early,” Klopp told a news conference.

“How I say: you immediately put a rucksack on their back. That makes development not easier, so hide them as long as makes sense. That’s the plan.

“But he’s now in the perfect age and is still able to make big steps. I thought in the last game, he played like a Liverpool player — highest intensity, was involved, was not fixed in a position. I saw already a lot of things.

“At the end, he didn’t hit a goal so maybe people will say that’s a proper Liverpool player — doing everything right and then at the end he doesn’t score.

“I’m really happy to have him here. I hope he’s also happy to be here.”

Despite it being reported that Oxlade-Chamberlain moved to Liverpool for greater opportunities in his preferred central midfield role, Klopp has already suggested that he can play in up to four positions in the Reds’ current 4-3-3 setup.

“It’s just because we play different to Arsenal. That doesn’t mean better or worse, it just means different. At least being involved in a different football [style] is already development because it helps you react in different moments, so that’s not always doing the same.

“Arsenal changed a lot of since Alex is there,” Klopp said. “I’m sure they didn’t always play with three in the back, wing-backs and stuff like this. I played against Arsenal when Alex was centre-mid, I played against Arsenal when he was on the wing, I played Arsenal when he was wing-back.

“He played different positions and that all is highest quality. If you can play in the Premier League in different positions, that says a lot of you.

“It’s a judgement from outside that you don’t develop, but playing different positions is development.”