Klopp reacts to claims Oxlade-Chamberlain is past his best

The Liverpool midfielder has suffered some severe injury setbacks of late, prompting concerns his best days may be past him.

Jurgen Klopp dismissed suggestions that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain may not be the same player anymore and backed him to be a ‘difference-maker’ for Liverpool.

The 27-year-old hasn’t made an appearance yet this term after suffering a knee injury during pre-season. But he has made steady progress on his recovery and returned to full training earlier this week.

It’s sparked talk that Oxlade-Chamberlain could make the trip to Fulham on Sunday in Liverpool’s latest Premier League match.

Alex Oxlade Chamberlain enjoying being back in full #LFC training pic.twitter.com/FaunacPGJ7

— Bleeding LFC Red (@LFCNewsSheet) December 11, 2020

But how effective will the former Arsenal man be? He hasn’t been able to establish himself as a regular starter at Anfield and has suffered two serious knee injuries in the past two years.

“I don’t understand these kinds of discussions, to be honest,” said Klopp as quoted on the42.

“You have to be injured yourself, once in your life, to understand how difficult it is to find everything completely normal and natural after an injury.”

The Liverpool boss added: “In training, you see Ox’s quality immediately.

“He’s a difference-maker, you can see that. Yes, how long he can do that in a game depends on his fitness level, and his fitness level depends on the amount of sessions he’s had, the amount of games.

“But being compared with the best moment in your career after coming back after an injury, that’s a really dumb thing to do. ‘Oh, he’s not that good anymore…’ I have no time for that, to be honest.

“Ox is an outstanding player, and always will be. Did he always play perfectly? No. But he had a few really good games and helped us a lot.

“The longer he can stay without injury, the better he will be, and this time we are really confident we can do that until the end of his career.”