Klopp showers praise on 16-year-old debutant Ki-Jana Hoever
Ki-Jana Hoever became the third youngest player to play for Liverpool when the 16-year-old was forced into action on Monday night in the FA Cup fixture against Wolves to cover for the injury of Dejan Lovren.
Signed from Ajax in September, Hoever replaced Lovren just after six minutes and gave a good account of himself in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of Wolves.
And Jurgen Klopp was very much impressed with the youngster’s debut in the FA Cup.
“He is one for the future of course, but what we will do with him now I don’t know,” the German told reporters after the game.
Injuries to Joël Matip and Joe Gomez have given Hoever a chance and, given how he performed on Monday, he may feature again before the season is over.
“He is 16, turns 17 in a few days,” Klopp said.
“If Joel and Joe would have been fit all of the time, then probably Ki-Jana wouldn’t have been in training with the first team, but he was in and is still in.
“It is just a joy to watch him. He is an incredible, confident young fella and is really a good player on top of that. It’s nice we can see him day in, day out. It’s really cool.”
Having replaced the injured Lovren against Wolves, Hoever could even be in the Liverpool squad for the Premier League game against Brighton at the weekend.
