Speaking after Liverpool’s 4-0 defeat to Mainz at the end of pre-season, Emre Can admitted he is desperate to help his side win trophies in 2016/17.
Can returned late to the Reds’ summer preparations, after his involvement with Germany at the European Championship in France, but is now being brought into Jurgen Klopp‘s starting lineup.
The 22-year-old was one of only two players to start in both Saturday’s 4-0 friendly win over Barcelona at Wembley Stadium and Sunday’s loss away to Mainz.
But speaking to LFCTV after the game at the Opel Arena, Can said he wasn’t yet “100 percent.”
“The performance yesterday we played really well, but today was not a good game,” he explained.
“You can say we were tired, but we want to play a lot better next week [against Arsenal in the Premier League].
“We will prepare very well for the game and see what happens next week.
“I’m not 100 percent, I have to work hard to get there and next week is another week, I will try hard and we will see how far I get.”
Can was joined by one of Liverpool’s new summer signings in each of the weekend’s friendlies, with Georginio Wijnaldum starting against Barcelona and Marko Grujic fielded at Mainz.
Continuing to discuss Klopp’s transfer business ahead of 2016/17, Can outlined the quality of Liverpool’s seven new additions.
The former Bayer Leverkusen midfielder expressed his determination to help these new players to push the Reds towards their target to “win silverware” this season.
“Every one [of the new signings] is a good player, that’s why we bought them, everyone’s showed that in pre-season,” he said.
“If you play at a club like Liverpool, such a big club, it’s always a target to win silverware. That’ll have to be our target this year.”
Sunday’s defeat to Klopp’s old side provided little in terms of insight ahead of next weekend’s trip to take on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
But Can will be well aware that Liverpool need to up their performance level throughout the squad if they are to go one better than last season’s pair of cup finals and bring trophies home.
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