Reds welcome new face as new season gets started

Adrian has joined Liverpool Football Club as Jürgen Klopp’s side prepares for Friday’s Premier League opener against Norwich City FC at Anfield.

Liverpool Football Club are just two days away from the start of the new Premier League season.

Jürgen Klopp and his players welcome Norwich City FC to Anfield on Friday night, having hit their attacking stride in Sunday’s Community Shield clash against Manchester City FC at Wembley.

The Reds may have lost the game on penalties but showed enough attacking verve – particularly in the second half – to suggest the hard work over pre-season is beginning to pay off.

Joel Matip had cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s opener late in the game, with penalties the result, and Klopp was happy with what he saw despite losing the shootout.

"I'm completely happy about the full performance,” said the boss.

"I said before the game, if you want to be prepared for Man City you have to make a pre-season game against Man City; no team plays like them.

"The second half is about will and all that stuff.

"That’s another thing in pre-season: you fill your body with all this physical information but you are not used to it after four or five weeks that you really can go over that point.

"We went over that point today, then nobody felt tired anymore and they could really go. I liked that a lot. Football-wise, the second half was just really, really good, the best way you can play against City.”

Klopp, meanwhile, welcomed a new arrival to Melwood this week.

Goalkeeper Adrian – formerly of West Ham United FC - joined the club as Simon Mignolet’s replacement, with the Belgian having moved home to Club Brugge after six successful years at Anfield.

The manager told LiverpoolFC.com: “I think this is the perfect solution for us in this moment, replacing talent and experience like for like.

"With Ali and Simon, I felt like we had two ‘No.1s’ and in many ways we have repeated that with Adrian. This is important.

"He is a ‘keeper who knows the Premier League, who has played in pressure situations and has the highest quality.”

Meanwhile, Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum – who played such a pivotal role last season as the Reds fell just one point short of City at the top of the table – can’t wait for the clash against the Canaries this weekend.

"Now everyone is back, we can build and try and do even better than last season,” said the 28-year-old.

"Basically it starts now because now we have the whole team together.

"But the Premier League and all those other games don’t wait until you have your squad together, so we have to perform.

"We are really excited. We had a good pre-season, it was really hard and tough but we are looking forward to the Premier League."

Eleven years Wijnaldum’s junior, 17-year-old Ki-Jana Hoever impressed during a superb pre-season and Klopp was delighted to see the Dutch youth international sign a new, long-term deal last week.

Speaking about the fledgling defender, Klopp said: “Ki-Jana is a wonderful kid and a sensational young player who can learn so much.

"Especially in the Napoli game when he came on, on the left side, it was maybe his best 15 minutes in the pre-season.

"The boys try to adapt to what we ask them for; we don’t tell them too much because we want them young and fresh and open.

"Take the information from the training pitch because if I tell them something, they are like soldiers and it’s not the right thing.

"Information is not there to delete all the other information you had before and to start thinking what the boss wants. They are with us.

"They had all the development they did without me – and that’s why we let them go [early from the Evian training camp].

"You can from time to time, especially the physical demands were really heavy for him to take. You forget so quickly these boys are so young. He’s still 17, it’s just crazy. But everything will be fine, he’s a fantastic footballer and I’m really happy that we have him for longer."