The Serbian has a lot of skill and Klopp could turn him into something special
Lazar Markovic – Yes, we know, this one is fairly obvious. It’s long been suggested that Jurgen Klopp has always thought highly of Markovic, and considering the player’s speend, trickery and penchant for being very direct, he’s probably right up Klopp’s street.
The only real question marks against the 22 year old are his end product and willingness to put in any real graft. Markovic impressed a few times last season but would usually follow up a good display or spell during a game with some very uninspiring work and could quickly lose interest if things weren’t going his way.
But playing on loan at Fenerbahce this season has seen him get a bit more experience, albeit not playing as often as he might have liked. The winger has made 14 appearances in the Turkish Superliga and a couple of times in the Europa League, scoring once and assisting two more.
That doesn’t tell the whole story though, of how Markovic could be a success under Klopp. As we’ve seen with Divock Origi this season, the 48 year old is capable of not just taking a rough diamond, but simply the raw materials of a player and turning them into something else.
With the Serbia star, he could create a player in the mould of some of his great successes at Borussia Dortmund, such as Marco Reus or Mario Gotze. That may sound like a far-fetched statement but Markovic was one of the most highly rated youngsters in Europe before we signed him and that was for a very real reason.
