Klopp laments injury absence of De Bruyne
Jurgen Klopp insists that Kevin De Bruyne’s threemonth lay-off with a knee injury is bad news for the Premier League. Klopp’s Liverpool are expected to go head to head with De Bruyne’s Manchester City team for the title. While the loss of City’s star player from last season could be seen as an advantage for Liverpool, the Reds manager wants a fair race as he prepares his side for tomorrow’s trip to Crystal Palace. As a football lover, Klopp is sorry that fans are denied seeing a gifted performer in his prime. He also admits that he tried to sign De Bruyne during his days in charge of Borussia Dortmund, only to be rebuffed by Jose Mourinho when he was managing Chelsea. “You hear about Kevin De Bruyne and you think ‘Wow’,” he says. “It’s awful news. He was never my player, but I love this player. I wanted Kevin at Dortmund, but Jose didn’t give him to me! “Something like this can happen in any moment and you need to be ready to sort that. “How many did we have like this in the past few years? Last year, we probably talked about our good squad and, then the next day, someone tells me Philippe Coutinho wants to go to Barcelona. “You have it for a minute and then it’s gone. We need to really enjoy the moment, but we constantly prepare a solution for problems we don’t have. “City still have Ilkay Gundogan as an option, Bernardo Silva and young Ben Foden. You could see it in the Community Shield against Chelsea. “It was so good and David Silva and De Bruyne didn’t play. “They’re used to what they do and obviously they will be strong again. “I wish Kevin, from the bottom of my heart, that he will be back as quickly as possible. I’ve heard it could have been worse, so that is good news.” But while Klopp laments the temporary absence of his rivals’ player, he can barely contain his excitement about one of his own new arrivals. Naby Keita finally got to Liverpool this summer, a year after his £50 million signing from Red Bull Leipzig was made. After a strong preseason and excellent debut in the 4-0 win over West Ham United last Sunday, Klopp is purring about the 23-year-old. “I don’t want to make it too big, it’s just I don’t know how good Naby could be,” he says. “If you asked me what his greatest strength was, I couldn’t say and it’s not because he’s not been here long enough. “We all have no clue how good he can be. He’s too young to be judged. What can we say? It was worth waiting, for sure.”