Jurgen Klopp has been struggling with the lack of a good left-back in his team’s defense; and even if he counts with Alberto Moreno, the former Sevilla player hasn’t shown a great level since he arrived at Anfield, therefore the German head coach had to recur to James Milner as his starting left- back.
Fortunately for Klopp, it seems like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, as his team has been linked to Sam McQueen. A Southampton’s full-back who’s also being scouted by the defending Premier League champions, Leicester City. McQueen, 21, has taken advantage of the injuries of some of his teammates and has made 4 consecutive starts for Claude Puel. Although he has displayed good performances with the Saints, his future in the club isn’t quite certain, as he’s only getting minutes due to other player’s injuries.
Liverpool appeared as a saviour for the young lad and if somebody knows how to make the most of a youngster, that’s the German boss, as he’s known for his developing skills. McQueen made his debut this season against Internazionale in Italy and since then, he has improved his game day by day, and the injuries of Ryan Bertrand and Matt Target has put him in a great position to be watched by several teams.
Last transfer window Klopp couldn’t buy the right player for this position; being rejected by Leicester’s City Ben Chilwell, and acquiring an aging Ragnar Klavan who’s more of a rotation player than a steady starter for a team that’s competing for the title.
Sam was recently asked about his future with the Saints and he was very emphatic about his desire to stay in Southampton’s first team. “You just have to worry about what’s right in front of you, but I would hope that I would still stay with the first team and hopefully still get some game time”, the youngster stated.
However, you can never be sure where you’re going to be the next year in a business like this one, so even despite the youngster’s desire to remain with the team, Puel’s plan can be completely different and given the fact that he’s a great prospect, it’ll be hard to keep him in the club if a giant side like Liverpool makes a big push for his services.
McQueen could actually provide a great boost for a Liverpool team that’s thriving in the offensive end but doesn’t seem very reliable in their own half of the pitch, and even the arrivals of Joel Matip and Loris Karius haven’t been enough to finally seal their defensive front.
Klopp’s side could be on the top of the League, but given the fact that they’ve received 13 goals in 10 matches, they rest behind Manchester City and Arsenal, who have a better goal difference.
That 1.3 goals conceded per game average is only being bailed out by their great 2.4 scored goals per game average, so that’s something that they’ll definitely be looking to improve if they want to make a run at the title, and this youngster could be exactly what they’ve been looking for the past season and a half, so they should definitely go ahead and make a run at him.