Jurgen Klopp has hailed Ryan Kent as a “fantastic football player” who is making the most of his loan spell at Rangers after flopping at Freiburg.
Speaking to the official Liverpool website, Klopp highlighted Kent as a good example of the benefits of the loan system in a broader discussion about temporary deals for his young stars.
“Ryan was sitting here in my office and asked me, ‘Let me go to Freiburg please, let me go to Freiburg please’. I know German football, I know the manager of Freiburg and I knew it is not Disneyland there! They train a lot, it is a very special club that I like a lot. He went there and it didn’t work out for him.
“Now he is at Glasgow Rangers and that works really well because Ryan is a fantastic football player and still very young.”
OPINION
Klopp makes an excellent point about Kent thriving at Ibrox after struggling in previous loan spells, notably at Freiburg in the first half of last season, but also at the likes of Bristol City and Coventry City. The 22-year-old had been more successful when he was at Barnsley, but the point from the Liverpool manager is that there are no guarantees where young players are concerned and their development does not follow a strict, pre-ordained path. Kent has lit up Ibrox this season after taking a few months to fully find his feet. The left winger has scored three goals and supplied three assists from 25 matches in all competitions, and was sorely missed during a pre-Christmas spell out with a hamstring injury. The wide man is not quite of the calibre to make it at Liverpool, but he can certainly carve out a top career, and, if Rangers can afford him, he would make a brilliant end-of-season signing.