Jurgen Klopp shares Liverpool’s plan after signing Jarell Quansah
The Reds boss’ reaction after Thursday’s Europa League game
Jurgen Klopp says he had no hesitation in handing Jarell Quansah his first European start as Liverpool beat Union Saint-Gilloise 2-0 in the Europa League. Goals from Ryan Gravenberch and Diogo Jota at the end of each half on Thursday secured back-to-back wins for the Reds in Group E after they opened their campaign with a 3-1 win over LASK last month.
Quansah, whose start against the Belgians was his fifth appearance of a breakthrough season, produced an impressive performance alongside Ibrahima Konate as the England Under-20 international stood firm against the physical threat of USG’s attack. Klopp insisted he had no hesitation in selecting Quansah on a night when Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip were all on the bench, but the Reds manager also revealed the young defender still has time to play for the U21s. during the campaign as he continues to learn his craft at a higher level. “It’s part of his development,” Klopp said. “It’s hard to play football when you’re not ready, but I had no doubt he was ready. It’s all because of him. It wasn’t a hard decision to put him in the lineup tonight, he’s still young, we have a really good football team together, which means he’ll get minutes.
“He will play with the under-21s as well. It’s good to see, it’s a pleasure to watch his development because he’s right with us. He’s a very good footballer, great, Mo’s (Salah) chance in the first half could have .was a helper, it was top defending, very quick thinking, going in. I’d say he’ll be pretty good, and rightly so.”