Jurgen Klopp believes Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is ready to start giving Liverpool a return on their £35million investment.

The England international has struggled to make an impact since his deadline day move from Arsenal.

His only start came in the League Cup defeat at Leicester City but after a lively late cameo against Manchester United, Klopp is considering giving him the chance to shine in Tuesday night's Champions League clash in Maribor.

“Alex is a big signing for us, but a player like him needs the circumstances to perform so he needed time,” Klopp said.

“Since he came in he has been twice with the national team, there have been a lot of games with no training and so his start has been interrupted.

“It has been kind of okay but not what we know he is able to do. But then Saturday, bang!

“He came on, used his speed, was really spot on, it was a very nice sign. I loved to see it. I was happy with Alex's performance.”

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(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Klopp says the contrast in styles between Liverpool and Arsenal means that Oxlade-Chamberlain has had plenty to learn over the past six weeks.

The 24-year-old will eventually be a central midfield option for the Reds but his immediate future will be as a winger.

Klopp has focused his attention on educating Oxlade-Chamberlain about the demands of playing out wide in Liverpool's front three.

“Obviously it is a different style to Arsenal and a different role to the wing-back role he played in his last games for Arsenal,” Klopp added.

“Then he plays for England and they all come back from their national teams not confused, but with different plans. That's not too simple.

“I would say there has been no consistency until now. We let him run so far, let him do what he is naturally good at and it will take time but it's all good. He is obviously powerful and that is what we need.

“At the moment his best position is more the wing that the No 8. Without training, playing in the middle of the park doesn't make sense.

“I was not only happy about his offensive situations (against United), I also liked the way he reacted after we lost the ball.

“At this moment he is training only on the wing so it is clear. It can never be without training as an eight first. It wouldn't be good for him, it wouldn't be good for us.

“For now it makes more sense to pick him in the more offensive positions. But it is not fixed for the next five years.”

(Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)

Loris Karius will replace Simon Mignolet in goal for the third successive Champions League contest but Klopp won't make many changes.

Liverpool are looking to record the club's first away win in the competition for nearly eight years.

They haven't won on their travels in the Champions League group stage since they beat Debrecen in Hungary in November 2009.

“The Man United game was not that intense. We don't have to rotate because of intensity physically,” Klopp said.

“Now is the moment where a lot of us have rhythm. We respect this opponent. We know it is unbelievably important for us so nobody should expect 11 changes.

"We know what we have to do – we have to get the points we missed in the other two games.

“We want to go to the next round so we should not wait too long until we start collecting points."