Manchester City playmaker Jack Grealish is not fit to tie reported Liverpool target Kvicha Kvaratskhelia’s laces, former Serie A frontman Antonio Cassano tells Bobo TV following Napoli’s Champions League trip to Anfield.
In an era of systems and detailed tactical plans, Kvaratskhelia feels like something else entirely. A real throwback of a footballer who, thanks to the expert management of Partenopei boss Luciano Spalletti, has been afforded the freedom to do what he wants, when he wants, to often devastating effect.
Kvaratskhelia, surely the best pound-for-pound signing made by any European club last summer at just £9 million, danced and pranced his way through Liverpool’s backline time and time again on Tuesday night, leaving Trent Alexander-Arnold dazed and confused with the sort of footwork that would make even Fred Estaire green with envy.
Kvicha Kvaratskhelia shines as Napoli battle Liverpool in Champions League
“In these last three months, he’s been by far the best in Serie A,” says Cassano, hailing Napoli director Cristiano Giuntoli for spotting a player who was far from a household name a couple of month ago.
“Congratulations to Giuntoli. This is a phenomenon. I saw City and Grealish can’t even tie his left shoe. Kvara is phenomenal!
“He defends, he goes inside, he assists. And now he plays as he wants and has consistency during the game that one does not expect. I hope for the Neapolitans that he will stay for a long time. But I think (Europe’s biggest clubs) will knock immediately to get him.
“I do not know where he can go. He is 21 years old!”
‘Phenomenal’
According to Calciomercato, the balletic Georgian was already on Liverpool’s radar even before Napoli arrived on Merseyside this week. The Serie A leaders have made it clear, however, that the former Rubin Kazan talisman is ‘not for sale’; a player nicknamed ‘Kvaradona’ the driving force behind their pursuit of a first Scudetto since a certain diminutive Argentine was running rings around Serie A defences.
“He’s a good player,” Klopp tells Liverpool’s official website of Kvaratskhelia, who held talks with Leeds United in the summer of 2021 and turned down Tottenham Hotspur.
“He is really good, the boy, and really quick. When he has the advantage of the first movement, he is already gone. You have to try to be there in the moment when the ball arrive. But if you cannot do that then you need to be protected because he has speed. He is cheeky, he goes inside, he can go outside.
“That makes it always really difficult.”
Kvaratskhelia alone could not secure Napoli a famous win at Anfield on Tuesday night, however. Late goals from Mo Salah and Darwin Nunez secured a morale-boosting 2-0 win for Jurgen Klopp’s beleaguered side.
Napoli still finished ahead of Liverpool in Group A, however.
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