'Marko Grujic has great vision, he's a clever footballer'
Former Liverpool captain Ronnie Whelan is a fan of the qualities possessed by Marko Grujic and backed him to make a real impact at the club in 2017-18.
The Serbian midfielder scored a superb goal during the opening pre-season victory at Tranmere Rovers on Wednesday night when Whelan was an interested observer, working as a pundit for LFCTV.
After recovering from injury last season, the 21-year-old is hoping to show his qualities as the Reds gear up for the new campaign.
“I thought he was very, very good in the game I saw him at Tranmere Rovers,” Whelan told Liverpoolfc.com.
“There is a lot of good stuff about him, his control, his passing and his vision. His link-up play with Georginio Wijnaldum and Daniel Sturridge was good.
“He has been unfortunate with injury. I thought he had a good pre-season last year but then got injured.
“He was then in and out of the squad but towards the end of last season he came back and was close to the first team.
“Now is the year for him. This is his year to kick-on and to start getting closer every week to the first team, be on the bench, come on and do something and show the manager what he can. It’s a big pre-season for him.”
Outlining what makes him stand out as a player, Whelan insists he has many qualities to offer Jürgen Klopp.
“He’s got great vision,” he added.
“He doesn’t have four or five touches on the ball unless he has got something in his head and he’s a clever footballer.
“I liked his goal against Tranmere. He knew straight away [what he was going to do] because when the ball came into him he knew he just had to get the ball out at his feet for a chance to have a shot on goal, which he did bottom corner. Great goal!
“For me his main attribute is his brain, his footballing brain because he sees passes quickly.”