Former Liverpool starlet Ki-Jana Hoever has spoken about his decision to leave for Wolves in the summer of 2020.
The Dutchman was very highly rated at Anfield, but last season fell behind Neco Williams in our pecking order to backup Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.
As a result, the £13.5m Liverpool secured was good business, especially as it helped smooth the deal that saw Diogo Jota come the other way.
Jota has hit double figures this term already despite missing three months of it injured.
Hoever has explained how the strength in depth was simply too much at Anfield – and he’s pleased he made the step towards more minutes.
“It wasn’t an easy choice, but it wasn’t that hard either,” Hoever told Goal‘s Neil Jones.
“I knew my playing time would be more than at Liverpool, that’s why I made the decision. I thought it was the best thing for my career in the moment.
“Now of course with the injuries, you don’t know, but I don’t think like that. I just thought like, if everyone was fit, how much game time would I have?
“Liverpool have such a great team still, maybe the best back four in the world, so it was really hard for me to break through there.
“And here the idea was good. I would be really involved in the squad, really a first-team player.
“It’s basically been what I expected, but I know I can still do better than this. It’s a good first season so far.”
Ironically, if Hoever had stayed, he might have played quite a bit. With Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip out for the season (it still sounds mad writing it even now), Hoever would have likely got minutes before Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips.
The latter has eventually formed a partnership with January signing Ozan Kabak, but Hoever would have likely matched the 13 appearances he’s made with Wolves.
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Of course, he wasn’t to know we’d suffer from the worst injury crisis in club memory – and at the time – the move was a smart one.
We wish the lad well, and hope he continues to get minutes under Nuno Espirito-Santo.
The Portuguese did a good job with Jota before he made the Anfield switch, and we’d quite like Pedro Neto to one day do the same.
The young flyer is starting for his country aged 21, and looks destined for bigger things.