Jurgen Klopp says player who Liverpool sold back in 2019 is absolutely ‘wonderful’

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As Jordan Henderson has proven once again this week, players who leave Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool don’t tend to do well for themselves.

Henderson now has a chance to rebuild his career at Ajax, but must be regretting his choice to leave the Reds last summer.

The 33-year-old joins a line of players who have seen things unravel having moved on from Liverpool. Philippe Coutinho is one example, Sadio Mane another and there are plenty more besides. But one man who has done very well for himself since his own Anfield exit is Bournemouth striker Dominic Solanke.

Having taken a little while to get going, Solanke is currently on fire. With 12 Premier League goals this season, he’s one of the very top scorers in the division. And as Liverpool prepare to take on the Cherries this weekend, Jurgen Klopp has been raving about the Solanke in his pre-match press conference.

“I’m so happy for Dom,” smiled the Liverpool boss. “When we signed him we were all so excited about the talent he is. He has so much potential, had so much potential when he came here. But this is Liverpool and we had other good strikers as well. He played games and everything, probably at that time not the most clinical yet but the talent was obvious.

“And then made the right decision to go to Bournemouth, went there through all different stages. Last year scored enough goals and now he’s obviously up there with the greatest and I’m so happy for him. He’s a wonderful kid, a real talent and a really good player and did it the hard way. It’s really cool.”

Klopp praises Solanke comeback

For a long time, Liverpool’s sale of Solanke back in 2019 was looked upon as a remarkable piece of business from the Reds. Let’s be blunt, he flopped at Anfield.

But after signing the youngster from Chelsea on a free transfer, he was sold to Bournemouth for £19m 18 months – and one goal – later. A really good return for a player who hadn’t shown a lot.

Over the last couple of years though, Solanke has proven himself to be good value for money on the South Coast.

He was one of the top scorers in the Championship during Bournemouth’s promotion season in 2021/22. Then, back in the Premier League, he hit six goals last campaign.

Still only 26, Solanke has now kicked things on another notch. If he keeps this form up, it isn’t hard to see the one-cap England international being sold for perhaps double what Bournemouth bought him for.

Whatever happens in the future though, it’ll be hard to declare Liverpool to have made any kind of a mistake with Solanke. As Klopp says, his talent was always there but it was clear that he wasn’t at the level to make an impact at Anfield.

As a result, it’s pleasing that instead of sticking around and rotting in the reserves, Solanke, Liverpool and Bournemouth forged a situation in which everybody wins.

On a hot-streak, he’d be a good bet for a goal on Sunday. Hopefully we don’t see Klopp’s words come to fruition against the Reds, and big Dom has an off-day. Still, good to see him doing well in the meantime.