Ozan Kabak interview | Life at LFC, tips from Van Dijk and Chelsea clash
Ozan Kabak is enjoying life at Liverpool and delights in being able to absorb advice from Virgil van Dijk.
The Turkey international labelled Van Dijk ‘an idol’ after arriving at Anfield on loan until the end of the season last month.
And, in an interview with Premier League Productions, he revealed the Dutchman has provided a helping hand as he adjusts to his new surroundings.
Kabak said: “I have met with him. He is a really nice guy, a top person – like his talent! He gave me a lot of help and tips about football. Now he is in rehabilitation but I hope he will be back soon and he will help us on the pitch also.
“I am looking forward to playing with him, of course, in the defence. He gave me some advice about how Liverpool plays in defence and how we have a high line, so he gave me some tips about how Liverpool play.
“It’s little things but of course it helps when you play, when you defend. He is such an experienced guy and his words are very valuable for me.”
Read on for more from the Reds’ No.19…
On how he is settling in…
First of all I am so happy to be here, at such a great club like Liverpool and [with] such a good manager and such good players. I’m so happy to be here and everything is good now. I’m still trying to settle in but everyone is so nice and friendly with me, so they make everything easier for me. All [his teammates] are really nice people and of course some of them speak German, like Thiago, Bobby and Shaqiri also. They help me because we sometimes speak German. That also helps.
On how he has found playing in the Premier League…
The Premier League is a really, really high level. The Bundesliga was also a really high level, but I think the Premier League is more high-intensity and physical. In the last three games we could only take just one win, unfortunate things happened. But I think in the next games we will take some more wins.
On his three top-flight appearances so far…
We have had a lot of injured players and we had a lot of unfortunate things on the pitch and off the pitch also, like with Jürgen’s mum and Ali’s dad. We are so sorry for them also. But it is life and it is football, everything can happen. We had a lot of injured players and lately Hendo got an injury, but for us the most important thing is that the other players gave absolutely everything on the pitch. We are 11 players on the pitch and it doesn’t matter who plays, we give everything for this jersey and we try to manage to win. I think when the injured players come back, of course we will be better. But without these players we will also give everything to manage to win the other games.
On working with Jürgen Klopp…
Jürgen, I don’t need to say how great a man and manager he is. Everyone knows him. He is really nice with me, he gave me confidence with his words and with his actions also. I’ll try to give my everything and make him proud.
On Thursday’s meeting with Chelsea…
Chelsea is a really big game for us. We struggled in the last games in the Premier League but we managed to win the last game against Sheffield United and we want to win also the next game. Liverpool’s tradition is to win every game so we will try to win every game. Chelsea is now in good form with their new coach, but we are Liverpool and we will give everything to win. It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, we are Liverpool and we will go for the win.
On the importance of getting back to winning ways at Anfield…
The last games we couldn’t win at Anfield. It’s so important – we won away games, yes, but at Anfield we have struggled. For building our confidence as a team it is really important to win against such a good team like Chelsea.
On Liverpool targeting Champions League qualification…
Of course. Liverpool has to play every year in the Champions League. We don’t want to sit on Tuesday nights next year on the couch watching the Champions League on television, we want to play. So we need to win every game and we need to finish in the Champions League spots.