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I spent two hours with Daniel Sturridge on Friday and I can tell you he and the rest of his Liverpool pals are buzzing about Jurgen Klopp’s arrival.

Sturridge won’t meet his new gaffer until tomorrow but he had spoken to one of his assistants Zeljko Buvac, the man Klopp calls ‘The Brain’, that morning and can’t wait to get started under the new regime.

There’s a genuine excitement about the fact Liverpool have landed a Category A manager, someone who is up there with a Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

And with the bulk of the players who came so close to winning the title 18 months ago still at Anfield, there’s a belief among them that they could even surprise one or two people this time out.

According to Sturridge, there’s very much a sense of, ‘We’re only six points off, we’re not a million miles away and the lads feel we can have a good season’.

And with a manager of Klopp’s calibre, who knows what could happen?

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Don’t get me wrong, Liverpool is a completely different beast to any team Klopp has been in charge of before, but he has some quality players to work with in the spine of the team and, with his CV, he’ll be able to attract players not just from Borussia Dortmund, but from across Europe.

No disrespect to Brendan Rodgers, but if Liverpool were looking to sign me again I’d probably be 20, 30 or even 40 per cent more likely to put pen to paper now Klopp is in the chair.

Mainly because he knows what it takes to win a league title. You always want to go somewhere you feel you have an opportunity of winning something.

He also manages teams with a smile on his face and actually takes time to get to know individuals.

So many coaches now are detached from individual players that to have a manager who has old-fashioned man-management values is something special.

Even players as good as Marco Reus, Ilkay Gundogan and Robert Lewandowski sometimes need telling how good they are.

I spent most of Thursday watching videos of Klopp – in English and German – to see how he reacts to things. He can be feisty, prickly, a little childish at times – he once stormed off TV after losing 3-0 – but he’s human. And like Sir Alex Ferguson, Bill Shankly and Brian Clough he has that something about him that gets that little bit extra out of players.

But don’t be under any illusions that this man is here just to flash his big smile. If you’re not doing it for him, he can be ruthless and his players and executives will find that if they’re not putting it in.

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If I’m being honest, I’ve not been convinced that any of the support staff on the transfer committee, the recruitment analysts or chief executive Ian Ayre are fit for purpose at LFC, they seem to be average in terms of their history and abilities. They will never have worked with this kind of character before, so it’s up to them to step up to his level.

Klopp will also identify very quickly which players aren’t going to be competitive in the top four and you’ll see in the next two transfer windows not a massive revolution but one or two edged towards the door and replaced by a better grade of player.

He has already given the supporters hope.

Now it’s time to sit back, strap in and enjoy the ride with Klopp. It’s going to be a good ’un.