Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been stepping up his recovery for Liverpool.
Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Jurgen Klopp has claimed that it was ‘unbelievable’ to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain move so well in training, after nine months on the sidelines.
The 25-year-old midfielder hasn’t kicked a ball for Liverpool since a Champions League semi-final with Roma at Anfield last April, when he suffered cruciate ligament damage in his knee.
Footage emerged this week of Oxlade-Chamberlain doing some ball work in training during the Reds’ warm weather training camp in Dubai.
And the German manager admits he was blown away to see him looking so fit, insisting that he looked ‘completely fine’.
He told Liverpool’s official website: “I loved it [the clip of him training] like the fans loved it, if they loved it! It is just brilliant!
“I didn’t lie, I said when you see him moving it is just unbelievable, he looks completely fine. The situation is now that we have to build endurance.”
Klopp added that although the former Arsenal midfielder – a £35 million signing in 2017 [BBC Sport] – is no longer injured, he is nowhere near being match fit and is refusing to rush him back.
He said: “I don’t think we talk about patience so much now, he needs fitness. He is not injured anymore, that’s what I would say, but he is not match-fit and that’s a massive difference.”
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