Trent Alexander-Arnold is poised to return to the Liverpool lineup against Tottenham on Sunday and manager Jurgen Klopp has highlighted the characteristics which make him such an important and impressive player.
The England international missed out on the win over Genk in the Champions League due to illness, but was back in training ahead of the weekend.
Should he feature at Anfield, it will be a 99th Liverpool first-team appearance for Alexander-Arnold, who turned 21 earlier this month.
Klopp explained to reporters the personal and professional traits which make Alexander-Arnold so vital to not just the team, but to the club overall as a local ambassador.
“He has a mix of personal education, football education, character, skills, attitude, mentality and he is on top of all that,” the Reds boss said.
“He is an absolute Scouser in the best understanding. It’s a big task and a big job to be a Scouser as a Liverpool player because you are responsible for pretty much everything. So he has all the good things.
“On the outside, when you are a Scouser in the Liverpool team it makes the game away at Manchester United even more difficult because everyone is talking to you the whole week about that and we will see the same again next year when we play them away.
“Apart from that, he is so impressive, so impressive. When I first saw him, I saw that this is something special but he had to work hard to make that really obvious. He is good, it’s really a pleasure to work with him to be honest. He is very aggressive in a positive way. It really is a pleasure to work with him, great.”
Liverpool face Tottenham looking to return to winning ways in league play, after a 1-1 draw at Man United last time out, before their midweek victory in Belgium.
Despite Spurs’ own big Champions League success against Red Star, Klopp says his team will present a bigger test for Mauricio Pochettino’s men, who are languishing in mid-table after nine games.
“Red Star Belgrade away is a different animal from home and we won pretty comfortable at home as well [last season], so [we] need to make sure we are ready for the Premier League challenges.
“We are not Red Star Belgrade and it is not at Tottenham, it is at Liverpool, so all these differences are important. It gives you confidence and all that stuff.”
Liverpool are looking to extend their lead at the top to six points once more, after Manchester City beat Aston Villa on Saturday.
