Jürgen Klopp has claimed Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain can realise his goalscoring potential at Liverpool and it is “unbelievable” the midfielder did not get that opportunity at Arsenal.
Oxlade-Chamberlain returns to the Emirates Stadium on Friday night for the first time since his deadline-day £35m move to Anfield. The 24-year-old has started only five Premier League games for Liverpool, making a further 10 league appearances from the bench, with opportunities restricted by the team’s fine form and the lateness of his arrival from Arsenal.
The midfielder has impressed in recent outings, particularly the 4-0 win at Bournemouth on Sunday, and Klopp believes the England international is adapting to having greater responsibility in the final third. The manager also insisted Oxlade-Chamberlain can improve in front of goal as those attributes were not developed by Arsenal, where he was often deployed at wing-back and scored only nine league goals in six seasons for Arsène Wenger’s team.
“I think the biggest improvement and potential for him is being involved in goalscoring situations,” Klopp said. “It is unbelievable but he was not asked for this too much in the past.
“If you watch Arsenal in the past their two decisive players were Özil and Sánchez. They are involved in a lot of moments and decisive passes. Özil or Sánchez, then Giroud when he is coming on the pitch. Then you [the rest] are not much involved. Here we put it on more shoulders, much more shoulders. If he is on the pitch he needs to be involved in these situations. At the moment it’s all good but I also see there is space for improvement.”
Oxlade-Chamberlain signed a five-year contract worth £120,000 a week when he joined Liverpool. He had rejected a contract extension at Arsenal worth £180,000 a week, plus a proposed move to Chelsea, having become disillusioned by wing-back duties and more enamoured at the prospect of working with Klopp.
“When he came here we spoke about the position,” said Klopp, who deployed Oxlade-Chamberlain in central midfield at Bournemouth to good effect. “The only position he didn’t want to play is wing-back but just like Milly [James Milner] if you asked him he would still do it. But even that is different here, it depends on the style of play.
“He can be more involved offensively and better protected defensively, so for me it’s not a big issue if he is a winger or a midfielder. But his main skills are offensive, that is true. He is such an athlete and he is still a young player. It’s unbelievable but he has 10 or 12 years yet to come in his career. If he was already complete then he would be Messi, who is the only player who was complete at that age. Now he can improve and that’s fine, but he isn’t discussing positions with me. We just try to give him the information and he enjoys it.”
Klopp reiterated his confidence that Philippe Coutinho and Emre Can will continue to deliver amid reports linking them with Barcelona and Juventus respectively. Liverpool rejected three bids from Barcelona plus a transfer request from Coutinho during the summer and have seen the Brazilian, who remains under contract at Anfield until 2022, frequently linked with a January move to the Camp Nou since.
Klopp said: “I don’t think about that, as long as nobody comes to me and says he’s gone or has signed a new contract. It’s all about the behaviour of the players. I work with them all day. If we want to sell a player we don’t go to him every day and tell him. Day-by-day it has no influence as long as the players are fine and neither Emre nor Phil give me the impression for one second they are not interested in what we are doing here. That’s all I care about until the moment we have to make a decision. They are completely in the team and they will be until it is not like this anymore. When this will be I have no clue.”