For his first match in England, Ozan Kabak is eagerly awaited: the new Liverpool defender, on loan from Schalke 04, must stabilize the Reds who have just been beaten twice in a row at home, before receiving the leader on Sunday (5.30 p.m.) of the Manchester City Championship.
Considered one of the greatest talents in his post, 20-year-old Kabak changed world when he left the Ruhr basin where he played maintenance with Schalke 04, to join the reigning English champion.
“I am so happy and so proud to have been recruited by a club as prestigious as Liverpool, I always wanted to wear this shirt, I want to show what I am worth and to impose myself”, explained the Turkish international trained in Galatasaray.
After receiving the administrative green light to play on Friday, Kabak is at the disposal of his coach Jürgen Klopp, who will certainly be tempted to offer him a beautiful baptism of fire with a shock against City, which has 7 points ahead of the Reds and one game less.
The German technician is well informed about his rookie, for whom Liverpool have an option to buy around € 20million, even though he never led it.
For Klopp, Kabak, who will have to make forget the usual holders Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez or Joel Matip, currently injured, is a “real personality” and a “very, very great talent”.
The Reds coach relies on the judgments of his great friend David Wagner, former coach of Schalke 04 dismissed last fall and admirer of the Turkish defender.
“David always said he would be a future captain,” Klopp said when the player arrived.
Aerial threat
Kabak is quick and very good in aerial play, including in front of the opposing goal.
Barely arriving in Stuttgart in January 2019 at just 18, he had scored three times in his first ten matches