Liverpool Striker Stays Focused on Working for His Chances

With Aston Villa manager Steve Bruce diving into the issue of the development of young English talent and using Dominic Solanke, who he said should be loaned out, as the lead example of why and how he believes the current system is going wrong, it was inevitable Solanke himself would be asked for his take on things.

And having just moved to the club over the summer from Chelsea, heading out on loan isn’t on the top of the player’s to-do list for this season. Instead, for now, he’d rather focus on performing well in training and waiting for the chance he believes will come as the striker currently sat third on Jürgen Klopp’s depth chart.

“You've just got to keep working,” Solanke told the Liverpool Echo. "I think with football, it can go in all different ways and it can change very quickly. There could be injury or something and you can go from a low spot to a high spot very quickly [and] however your opportunity comes you've just got to try to take it."

Even one key injury would certainly see Solanke’s minutes tick up, but with second-choice striker Daniel Sturridge failing to deliver when given his own chance to impress against Chelsea this week, the 20-year-old Englishman might not have to wait for an injury to get his chance at moving up the club’s pecking order.

Even now, though, Solanke is getting more of a look in than he ever did at Chelsea, showing enough that the club was willing to send Divock Origi out on loan and Danny Ings as yet remains with the U23s and getting minutes—maybe not a lot, not yet at least, but he is getting minutes and he is in Jürgen Klopp’s plans.

"The move [has been] quite easy for me,” he added. “It's a great club, and everyone's looking forward to what we can do in the season.”