Arsenal’s former head of recruitment, Sven Mislintat, gave Jurgen Klopp a glowing reference about Liverpool’s deadline day signing Ozan Kabak.
The Premier League champions secured two new arrivals on the final day of the transfer window as Ben Davies joined in a £2 million deal from Preston North End, while Kabak was signed from Schalke.
The 20-year-old has joined on loan for the remainder of the season, but Liverpool also have the option to purchase the centre-back for £18 million this summer.
Mislintat, who spent 14 months at Arsenal, is now Stuttgart’s sporting director and he oversaw the sale of Kabak to Schalke in 2019.
And the former Arsenal recruitment chief has revealed that he spoke with Klopp about Liverpool’s push to sign Kabak from Schalke.
‘I told Jurgen that he’s a top lad,’ Mislintat told The Athletic.
‘Top mentality, top character, top aggression. He’s a [Dejan] Lovren-type player. Very good in the air, both defensively and in the opposition box.
‘He played his best stuff for us [at Stuttgart]. He hasn’t been able to show how good he is at Schalke.
‘He still needs to learn but he has all the skills for Klopp to make a success of him.’
Meanwhile, Schalke’s former technical director, Michael Reschke, has also praised Liverpool’s decision to sign Kabak.
‘There was no way Schalke could stop him from going to Liverpool now,’ Reschke told The Athletic.
‘If they had refused him a big transfer for a second time, they would have killed him as a player. They knew they had to let him go now.
‘David Wagner [Schalke’s former manager] would have given him a glowing report. He’s not super fast, but he’s very strong and resilient, switched on. He can play football, he wants to win every ball and he’s great in the air.
‘I’d be surprised if he didn’t score a couple of goals from set pieces. He will benefit from a bit of guidance by more experienced players and from Klopp, who tends to improve every player.
‘We shouldn’t forget that he’s still young but getting him in on an initial loan is a superb deal for Liverpool. He will try absolutely everything to make it a permanent deal. I’m pretty sure he’ll make it. He’s got the quality to become an international top-class centre-back.’
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