- Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will make his first start for Liverpool on Tuesday night
- Reds boss Jurgen Klopp will unleash him against Leicester in the Carabao Cup
- Some had expected Oxlade-Chamberlain to have featured more in recent weeks
- But Klopp said that his plan for the former Arsenal player is a ‘long-term thing’
- Klopp is happy with his £35million man and insisted: ‘It is all good from this side’
Jurgen Klopp is ready to unleash Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and believes his £35million signing will be invigorated by the ‘relief’ of life away from Arsenal.
The England midfielder has made three substitute appearances for Liverpool so far but Klopp will start him tonight in the Carabao Cup tie at Leicester and is looking forward to it, after reporting that Oxlade-Chamberlain has ‘settled in perfectly’.
When he arrived at Anfield, Oxlade-Chamberlain repeatedly said he wanted to ‘make the next step’ but Arsene Wenger, his former manager, once said a lack of self-belief was the reason the 24-year-old had not made the steps he and others had hoped.
Jurgen Klopp will hand Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain his first Liverpool start on Tuesday night
He cost £35million when he signed from Arsenal and was expected to be an important player
But midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain, 24, has begun every Reds match on the bench so far
Klopp has not seen anything in the two weeks of working with Oxlade-Chamberlain to suggest he lacks self-confidence but Liverpool’s manager feels a new environment will light a spark that used to be missing at Arsenal.
‘I think it would be strange for me to say it after two and half weeks when Arsene Wenger said this after working with him for six or seven years,’ said Klopp, who has confirmed Wales international Danny Ward will be his goalkeeper for as long as Liverpool are in this competition.
‘But a new start is very often a kind of relief. That’s how it is. You are in a situation with your old club – and I don’t say this about Alex specifically – and you accept it and it is difficult to make the next step. I thought it made complete sense for Alex to change club and to come here.
‘So far I can’t see that. He knew at least all the England players and a few others. He is a really nice lad so it is easy for him to settle into a new team. He knows the situation. He played all the games for Arsenal from the beginning and now he comes here and is on the bench.
‘It looks “Oh, not the best decision!” but it is a long-term thing. We want to use him and to prepare him also. It is all good from this side at the moment.’
Klopp has taken Liverpool to the final and the semi-final in two assaults on the League Cup and he has vowed to take the competition seriously once again, saying: ‘In this moment we have the squad to play in different competitions and to go as far as possible.
‘That is the plan. No player who is involved is involved because I hope we go out of this competition. We are going there to win the game.’
But manager Klopp will give him a go right from the start at Leicester City in the Carabao Cup
Klopp called for patience and said that his plan for the ex-Arsenal player is a ‘long-term thing’