Jurgen Klopp has paid tribute to the outgoing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain but admits the Liverpool midfielder is likely leaving Anfield with some regrets.
Oxlade-Chamberlain spent six years on Merseyside and played his part in helping the club win every major trophy between 2019 and 2022 before his final term ended with him making just 13 appearances.
A career-threatening knee injury that was picked up in a Champions League semi-final win over Roma in April 2018 had a major impact on Oxlade-Chamberlain's time at Anfield and the former Arsenal has only made 39 appearances in the last three full Premier League campaigns.
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Despite the injury issues, however, Oxlade-Chamberlain leaves the club with winners' medals in the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
And Klopp has hailed the departing midfielder, saying he was a "joy to work with" during his time with Liverpool as he gets sets to assess his options as a free agent.
“Ox is a super guy, an absolutely super guy," Klopp told the club's official website. "Now with Ox it’s a bigger shame, how it sometimes is with players - he had here super times and now in the end I’m pretty sure he is not 100% happy and I can understand that, definitely.
“But the one moment that comes in my mind, it describes a little bit the time here but as well how good he is, is the situation in the Roma semi-final, the home game when he got injured. In that moment I had no idea how to replace him, honestly - Ox was that good.
“It was everything: he came here, had played from time to time at wing-back at Arsenal, winger for sure, and he became a proper No.8 here in the way we wanted to play - super-energetic, technically outstanding.
“I remember early and we had our first finishing sessions and I looked and thought, ‘He didn’t score that many goals in the past, if I could shoot like you I would start in the morning at seven and finish shooting at nine or 10 o’clock because it’s incredible!’
“So, then he started scoring these wonderful goals against [Manchester] City and in other important games. It was always a real joy to work with him but again, one or two injuries too many caused some problems, obviously. I love him."
He added: “I love him. Once I said if I had to choose a player to go on holiday with probably my first choice would be Ox because I’m pretty sure he can organise these things pretty well, he knows the whole world. Together with his missus he could probably organise tickets for each event in England, maybe Europe, and it would be absolutely good fun.
“He is a good talker and I’m pretty sure after his career – which I hope will continue for a long, long time – he will show up anywhere on television. If not, television made a big mistake!”
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