‘All of a sudden’: Owen says Klopp signed two players at Liverpool who’ve made everyone else look brilliant

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Michael Owen believes two Jurgen Klopp signings at Liverpool have improved everyone around them. It’s hard to argue against.

Michael Owen believes two signings at Liverpool truly stand out as improving the rest of the side. That’s how good Jurgen Klopp’s forays into the transfer market have been.

It’s something the likes of Rio Ferdinand have pointed out before. Liverpool tend to sign players under Klopp and then immediately improve them, moving them up several levels – sometimes to world-class.

But Owen feels two players are different. They’ve not only improved themselves but everyone around them, too.

“If we cast our minds back to before Virgil van Dijk and before Alisson came in, we had big question marks about Liverpool,” he told Premier League Productions. “They seemed to score three goals and then almost concede three or four.

“We’d wonder why they didn’t shut up shop, why they didn’t keep things tight. Then Jurgen Klopp went ‘bang, bang’.

“Signed a top centre-half in Van Dijk and, of course, a top goalkeeper in Alisson. All of a sudden, everybody around them – the left-back, the right-back, the centre-half partner – just looked brilliant.”

Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool signings

There’s no real question that Van Dijk, in particular, moved Liverpool up a level. The Reds went from being a decent but inconsistent side to UEFA Champions League finalists within a few months of his arrival – there was an instant impact.

Alisson – and, it should be said, Fabinho – then arrived the following summer. Liverpool improved again, from an underdog side to European champions and one of the world’s most dominant teams.

The numbers paint the picture better than words possibly can, though. Liverpool’s last full season without either Van Dijk or Alisson saw them concede 42 Premier League goals. Their first season with both had the Reds ship 22 as they put out the league’s tightest defence.

That’s a dramatic improvement and Owen is right – the two of them improved the games of everyone around them. It’s the know-how they bring, the confidence they add to every player and that combined, they suit Liverpool’s playing style to perfection.