Jurgen Klopp hails current batch of Liverpool youngsters as 'special'

Jurgen Klopp has talked up the crop of young players on the verge of breaking into the Liverpool first team as 'special'.

The Reds won their third pre-season game of the summer in emphatic fashion on Sunday, beating Leicester City 4-0 in Singapore.

Goals from Darwin Nuñez, Bobby Clark and Diogo Jota killed the game off in the first half, before Ben Doak added another after the break.

As with the two friendlies in Germany, Klopp used different lineups in each half against the Foxes, giving plenty of opportunity to the young stars who had made the trip to Singapore.

While Clark (18) and Doak (17) both bagged their first senior goals for the Reds, the likes of Jarell Quansah (20), Lewis Koumas (17) and James McConnell (18) also shone.

Speaking after the match, the manager was effusive in his praise of the academy players who have impressed him so far in pre-season, even hinting that he has not come across a group as talented as this before in his career.

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"Really, the young boys took the chance just to show up – I told them already a week ago or so in the dressing room and I said I saw a lot of young players in my career but this group is special," Klopp said, via Liverpoolfc.com.

"Calum [Scanlon], the desire to play; Mel [Frauendorf] is a bit longer with us, but he makes big steps every year; Ben of course; Bobby scored his first goal today; Quansah grew in the last years, not only physically but as a man as well – a proper centre-half; Koumas, very early but physically already there, has all the things you need as a kid to become a real player – the speed, the technique and all that stuff. That's good, let's see where it will lead us to, but if these boys play the main role next season then we will have a problem because whilst we use these boys in moments where it's really going well, then one here and one there and they have still time to develop – and we give them that time."

Elsewhere in his post-match comments called Doak's first senior goal for Liverpool 'pretty special', while describing 18-year-old James McConnell as a 'joy to watch'.

"We have a lot of options in the areas and the boys need to show up. It's not pressure, it's just the situation because I think it was clear when we scored in the first half three goals but second half Cody and Dom and Luis and Ben [Doak], to be honest, that was pretty special. And Harvey as well really showed up.

"James [McConnell] on the six is just a joy to watch – the boy never played the position before we put him there and he throws his heart on the pitch to fill the role. These things are really good."