Jurgen Klopp has admitted he’s ‘so happy’ for one former Liverpool man who has thrived since leaving the club.
Dominik Solanke joined the Reds on a free transfer from Chelsea in the summer of 2017 but only made 27 appearances before moving onto Bournemouth just 18 months later.
He netted one goal and registered one assist during his time on Merseyside where he understandably found game time hard to come by with the frightening front three of Sadio Mane, Bobby Firmino and Mo Salah making themselves virtually undroppable.
Liverpool will come up against Solanke this weekend when they travel to the south coast to take on Bournemouth and Klopp had nothing but praise for the 26-year-old in his press conference earlier today.
🗣️JK: "I am so happy for Dom [Solanke]. He had so much potential when he came here, but we had other good strikers. He made the right decision to go to Bournemouth and now he's up there with the greatest and I'm so happy for him. Wonderful kid, real talent."
— Empire of the Kop (@empireofthekop) January 19, 2024
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It was clear that Solanke had ability but it was difficult to give the Basingstoke-born talent an extended run of games when there were world-class players operating in his position.
This season the England international has been lighting it up for the Cherries with 13 goals and one assist across all competitions.
His 12 Premier League strikes see him fall just two shy of Erling Haaland and Mo Salah who lead the way so far this term.
Solanke is one of the very few players who have thrived since moving away from Anfield with Philippe Coutinho, Gini Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson just a few of the names to have struggled to find any form since their respective exits.
We’re delighted to see our former No. 29 doing well at the Vitality Stadium but we’re hoping to keep him quiet this weekend as we seek to retain our spot at the top of the league.