Stewart takes strength from skipper Jordan
KEVIN STEWART didn’t need to be told that Jurgen Klopp has big plans for him. But the Liverpool manager’s blanket refusal to sell or loan out the midfielder this month officially underlined that.
Two months ago the 23-year-old Londoner signed a new four-year contract and today’s FA Cup tie against Plymouth gives him a chance to demonstrate why Klopp has so much faith.
“It gives you a big lift when the manager says he doesn’t want to sell you,” says Stewart, who had loan spells at Cheltenham, Burton and Swindon when Brendan Rodgers was boss.
“But I didn’t really need that reassurance. He’s told me in the past that he wants me to stay and to keep improving.
“I definitely think this is the right place for me. It’s about learning from the manager, from the other players and becoming part of the squad.
“I’m here to play and prove myself. I’m not going to try to leave because I’m not involved every week. I’m more than happy to stay and fight.
“Maybe in the future, there will come a point where the situation changes but for now, I’m happy.
“Obviously I could learn different things from playing regularly somewhere. But in terms of where I want to be, I think I’m going to learn more here.
“I’ve always been a Liverpool fan because my dad was. When Spurs let me go I was thinking about dropping down to League One but when the chance to move here came I had to take it.
“Things got a bit blocked for me in my last season at Tottenham and I got frustrated. It was best for me to start afresh.
“I was aware that I might face the same blockages at Liverpool but I believed in myself.
“If it’s going to happen for me, then it will probably be with this manager. He’s already done so much for me and helped my career to a level I didn’t know it could be at.”
Stewart is seen as Jordan Henderson’s understudy and he notes some parallels between his own struggles to establish himself and those the Liverpool skipper had in his early days at the club.
Henderson cost £16m from Sunderland but had a hard time winning over his then boss and would have been sold to Fulham had Rodgers had his way.
Now he not only wears the Liverpool armband but is also earmarked as England’s next captain.
“I really like Jordan’s story because it’s not too dissimilar to mine,” says Stewart.
“When I was in the academy, I wasn’t one of the popular ones, either. It was about going through a lot of downs and proving a few people wrong.
“For Jordan to be captain now and to be playing so well is really inspiring for me.”