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Jordon Ibe is currently on international duty with Gareth Southgate's England Under 21 side so has not yet linked up with Liverpool's charismatic new manager. The youngster was billed as Raheem Sterling's successor and possibly one of the breakout stars of the season, but there has been little in the way of promise from a player with the physical and technical tools to be one of the main players to benefit from Jürgen Klopp's approach to football.
Ibe was given a chance by Brendan Rodgers, a manager with a penchant for and commitment to promoting British talent, to make 25 appearances for the Reds during the Ulsterman's tenure at the club. While it's not necessarily a critical time in the career of a player who is still in his teens, there's an opportunity to shake off the mass of rust around his ankles and clouds that envelop his decision-making to kick on with a new man in charge. It seems that the 19-year-old is excited by the prospect of working with such a high-profile figure.
I can't wait to get back and start working with him now. I can only try and get better with the help he's hopefully going to provide for me, and there's a lot of other young players, so working around him should be great and also for the senior players in the squad. It's a shame [about Rodgers], because he was an important man in my career. But that's how football is. There's no promises in football and I wish him all the best for the future. I now need to focus and work under the new manager, he's got good experience and did some great stuff with Borussia Dortmund.
It's always interesting to see how footballers can quickly move on, but the fast-paced nature of the game dictates such an outlook. Players and managers aren't expected to spend years upon years at one club, and for Ibe, there's a chance to work with a manager who can be easily bracketed alongside Europe's most respected managers.
First Ibe will take on Kazakhstan's Under-21 side before returning to Melwood where a new manager will be waiting for him and many others to return. It's time for a restart.
