Former Liverpool player Rob Jones has heaped praise on the Reds’ new signing, Nathaniel Clyne.
The right-back position needed strengthening after Glen Johnson had been released by the club.
And Jones, who was a right-back himself, reckons Clyne has everything it takes to be big hit at Anfield.
Clyne joined from Southampton for an initial £10.5m which could rise to £12.5m based on add-ons, and Jones approves of the investment. He told the Liverpool Echo:
“Defensively Nathaniel seems superb. His strength is his defensive work. It seems obvious but it’s not always the case with modern full-backs.
“He has little bits going forward too and he seems to have everything.
“As full-backs go he’s got the full package. Some are good at defending but can’t go forward but from what I’ve seen of Nathaniel, he appears to have everything and I’ve been impressed with the way he times his tackles.”
The 24-year-old had reportedly rejected advances from Manchester United and Chelsea in order to secure a move to Liverpool.
Jones also spoke about Clyne’s versatility and his ability to adapt to the different formations manager Brendan Rodgers may play.
“You’d imagine with the signing of Nathaniel that Brendan is looking to go with a back four but he’ll have to see how things go in pre-season,” said Jones.
“Things can change for you as a manager and I’m sure than Nathaniel could cope with playing in a right wing-back role if needed as well as a conventional right-back which is great for the club.”
Jones, who played over 200 times for Liverpool and was an England international, went on to speak about the previous Liverpool right-backs and how no-one really made the position theirs.
Johnson was bought for a reported £17 million from Portsmouth and featured predominantly over the last few seasons.
Jones added: “We’ve tried a lot of different players in the full-back positions in recent seasons but none of them could be said to have fully succeeded. It’s hard to say why it hasn’t worked out for some of them.
“Glen Johnson was brought in for big money and we got a good couple of seasons out of him but then he started to pick up injuries and struggled to come back the way he was.”
Clyne was Liverpool’s sixth signing as he joined James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, Joe Gomez and Roberto Firmino but Jones reiterated the need for a new striker:
“I’ve been pleased with the way that Liverpool have operated in the transfer market so far this summer.
“I don’t know how much Brendan has got left to spend but we need to get the kind of centre-forward who can nick you a goal in a close game to snatch the three points and hopefully that will get done in the next week or so.”
