Jurgen Klopp: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is 'an absolutely super guy'

Jurgen Klopp: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is 'an absolutely super guy'

Jurgen Klopp has expressed his admiration for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is set to depart from Liverpool.

While acknowledging that the midfielder may have some regrets about his time at Anfield, Klopp praised Oxlade-Chamberlain's contributions to the club.

During his six-year tenure with Liverpool, Oxlade-Chamberlain played a significant role in the team's success, as they won every major trophy from 2019 to 2022.

Unfortunately, his final season saw him making only 13 appearances, largely due to a knee injury sustained in a Champions League semi-final victory over Roma in April 2018.

Over the past three full Premier League campaigns, he has made just 39 appearances, indicating the impact of his injury on his playing time.

Klopp expressed his delight at having worked with Oxlade-Chamberlain, describing him as a "joy to work with" throughout his time at Liverpool.

As the midfielder prepares to explore his options as a free agent, Klopp's tribute highlighted the positive impact Oxlade-Chamberlain had on the team.

"Ox is a super guy, an absolutely super guy," Klopp told the club's official website.

"Now with Ox it's a bigger shame, how it sometimes is with players - he had here super times and now in the end I'm pretty sure he is not 100% happy and I can understand that, definitely.

"But the one moment that comes in my mind, it describes a little bit the time here but as well how good he is, is the situation in the Roma semi-final, the home game when he got injured. In that moment I had no idea how to replace him, honestly - Ox was that good.

"It was everything: he came here, had played from time to time at wing-back at Arsenal, winger for sure, and he became a proper No.8 here in the way we wanted to play - super-energetic, technically outstanding.

"I remember early and we had our first finishing sessions and I looked and thought, 'He didn't score that many goals in the past, if I could shoot like you I would start in the morning at seven and finish shooting at nine or 10 o'clock because it's incredible!'

"So, then he started scoring these wonderful goals against [Manchester] City and in other important games. It was always a real joy to work with him but again, one or two injuries too many caused some problems, obviously. I love him."