Despite being Jurgen Klopp’s first signing for Liverpool, Marko Grujic has had almost no time in competitive action in the famous red shirt.
In that sense, he has been pretty unlucky. Arriving at the club through our transitional period during the winter of 2016 and being shipped almost immediately back to his former side Red Star Belgrade on loan.
From this, the £13.05m-rated once again saw very little action and was sent to Cardiff City during the 2017/18 campaign, which was followed by two back-to-back loan spells at the Bundesliga side Hertha Berlin.
In Germany, he scored nine times and provided three assists from 54 appearances for Die Alte Dame, which I appreciate is not the best record in the world but he certainly did a job for his team.
With the departure of Adam Lallana at the end of last season, there is a midfield void that needs to be filled. For me, there is no reason why Grujic should not be given the opportunity if we are not going to bring Thiago Alcantara to the club, who has been heavily linked with us all summer long.
As I’ve previously said, we already have a lot of numbers in the middle of the park and there are priorities in other positions that we need to strengthen, especially at the back.
Midfield wise, we are strong. With just 14 matches under his belt for our first-team and 327 minutes played (as per TransferMarkt), this is nowhere near enough for me to make an official judgement on the Serbia international.
Grujic has featured at every level for his country in his career, currently holding eight senior caps and still has a lot to learn in the game. Who better to learn that from than Klopp himself.
Look at the miracle work he has performed with Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and even Mohamed Salah to a certain extent. He has a history of turning players into world-class performers.
With his agent having ruled him out returning to Hertha Berlin for a third time, and as long as he possesses the mindset that has helped us win so much. Grujic can be successful with us and could almost be like a new signing.
