Ki-Jana Hoever: “I’m Just Trying to Get Better”

We’ve been seeing plenty of fresher faces (and hairstyles—thank you, Harvey Elliott) on the pitch recently, and we’re likely to keep seeing them in the upcoming season. One of the players who hasn’t yet made his mark on the first team is Dutch defender, Ki-Jana Hoever who signed a long-term contract with the club last season. Hoever scored his first goal for the first team during the Carabao Cup, and is keen to keep showcasing his talent with the first team.

“My goal is again to play as many games as possible and that’s just my goal,” he told the club’s official website this weekend. “I don’t have any [specific targets], to be honest. I’m just trying to get better, show myself in training and then we will see what happens.

“It’s really a privilege to be around these boys and learn from them every day, so I’m really happy about that. This is pre-season, so these are not the normal sessions that you have in mid-season. Of course it’s a little bit harder but you can also show yourself.”

The defender is currently with the Reds at their Austrian training camp as they prepare to defend the Premier League title.

“It feels really good. We had a little break but I’m happy that it wasn’t a break that took too long, so we can start straight in,” he added. “I took maybe a week off – still doing your stretching and that kind of thing – and then the other week I started training and doing my running and stuff like that.”

Hopefully Hoever can get a few more first team minutes and show the league just what a talented player he is. And perhaps he can sneak in a few more Klopp hugs while he’s at it, too.