“Wijnaldum scored 11 goals in 38 league appearances in his maiden season in England following a move from PSV Eindhoven last summer”.
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Wijnaldum has been strongly linked with a move to Anfield over the past week after Jurgen Klopp turned his attention to the Dutch global after failing with his attempts to land Udinese midfielder Piotr Zielinski. “I was very happy with the progress made last season”, Whelan told the Mirror.
“I know him really well and played alongside him at the 2014 World Cup”.
The Newcastle midfielder joined the Reds in a £25million deal over the weekend. He was a big, big player.
“I’ve met the new lads and they’re all good guys”. You have just got to make sure you do your job in the best possible way. As he’s getting older, he needs to establish a position. “He didn’t say: “You need to go to Liverpool” because he wanted me to stay at Newcastle”.
McClaren added: “He’s fit, flexible and mobile”.
However, his efforts were ultimately in vain as Newcastle were ultimately made to pay for a poor season with relegation to the Championsip.
Liverpool have already left for the US where they will play Chelsea, AC Milan and Roma.
“But for us, the reality was that this was a good transfer but also we have kept a good team at the same time”. “He is still our player and that means he has to be ready for us”.
“I think he can be a great player for us”, Klopp said.
Simpson continued: “He can talk a glass eye to sleep when it comes to talking about football”.
Midfielder Lucas Leiva, who sustained a hamstring problem which forced him off in the second half against Huddersfield, did travel with the squad and will be fully assessed once the team are settled in their California training base.
“I wasn’t surprised when it was like this when we met for the first time”, Klopp admitted.
“When Liverpool were on the phone, it was a great pleasure for me to take it on because it gives me what I was looking for”.
“This experience gives him a good foundation for the challenge here – which everybody knows is huge”. Now that won’t be a problem, as he gets a whole preseason, and Wijnaldum is another player who will slot in well.
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Glenn is ESPN FC’s Liverpool correspondent.
