Oxlade-Chamberlain like a new signing this summer – Klopp

Jurgen Klopp insists he won’t set any targets for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain this season – but believes his return to action will “feel like a new signing” for Liverpool.

Oxlade-Chamberlain sustained a serious knee injury in the Champions League semi-final first leg against Roma in the spring of 2018, a problem which ruled him out of the final with Real Madrid a month later and sidelined him for 12 months in total.

Now back in action after a long and arduous rehabilitation, Oxlade-Chamberlain will be hoping to pick up where he left off and no doubt boosted by the change in squad number he has been given this season.

But Klopp, who insists Liverpool are still in the market for one big summer signing, is adamant he won’t rush Oxlade-Chamberlain and has refused to set the player any goals.

“It’s up to Alex,” Klopp told the Liverpool Echo in an exclusive interview. “Life can sometimes be about luck, and has had a really unlucky time with the injury.

“Two seasons ago, when he got injured, he was in the shape of his life, looking so positive.

“I’m so happy with how it looks at the moment, but of course we are going to have to see.

“But Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain... come on. Fit… if that’s not a new signing, then I don’t know. To buy him, after the impression we got when he played for us, what do we think the price would be to buy that level of player?!?

“Rhian Brewster, Joe Gomez, Adam Lallana, it’s all clear. We have these players, now we have to use them.

“If they are playing, then good. If not, then they have to push the others. That’s how it should be. That’s how good squads work, and that’s what we believe in.”

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