Jurgen Klopp believes Trent Alexander-Arnold will benefit from a change of manager having developed into an ‘outstanding, world-class’ footballer under his guidance.
The 25-year-old clocked up his 100th goal contribution for the club in curling home a beautiful free-kick in Sunday’s 3-1 win at Fulham.
For Klopp, that moment was just the latest proof of the quality possessed by a player he plucked from the club’s academy almost eight years ago.
And the German expects Alexander-Arnold to in fact become even better by taking on fresh ideas from a new manager in the seasons ahead.
Klopp said: “Everything grows since I’ve known him, he’s become a real man.
“[A] fantastic player from the first day, outstanding talent turned into an outstanding, world-class football player.
“It’s pretty rare that as a manager you are part of such a journey for such a long time.
“Trent never had a different manager in professional football, so it will be good for him to get new influences in the future, that’s definitely clear.
“But I think he can be quite happy with the steps he made. When you see him now playing, you just see what a good player he is, it is crazy.
“I hope it was not misunderstood after the last game when I said ‘Conor Bradley played a few games but Trent is Trent’.
“Conor Bradley is a revelation”
“I have to say, Conor is Conor. He was for a while the best player, a revelation, unbelievably good.
“I saw the headline and thought maybe it’s what I said but it’s not what I wanted to say, but I told Conor already. He is really exceptional as well. It’s really nice to have these sorts of players around.”
On Alexander-Arnold, Klopp added: “He is one of these stories which not a lot of clubs can really write but people talk about in 20, 30 and 40 years.
“And that is really nice for a boy from West Derby, it’s probably the best you can achieve in life.”
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