Ozan Kabak bids farewell to Liverpool after successful loan spell

Updated: 30 Jun 2021 18:23 BST

Klopp responds to criticism of new Liverpool signing Ozan Kabak — © ProShots

Ozan Kabak has written a letter of thanks to Liverpool as his departure from the club is now confirmed.

The Reds announced on Wednesday that the Turkey international would return to German outfit Schalke on July 1 after his loan deal at Anfield expires.

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Kabak signed on deadline day of the January transfer window as the fix to Liverpool's defensive crisis that saw Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip spend significant time on the sidelines.

The 21-year-old made 13 appearances for Jurgen Klopp's depleted side as they made a late charge to ensure Champions League football next campaign.

The club did, however, have an option to extend the centre-back's stay by opting in to an £18m option to sign him on a permanent basis.

But the interest in doing so diminished following the signing of highly-rated Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig in a more expensive deal of around £36m.

Already reminiscing on his time in English football, Kabak wrote: “Dear Liverpool family, I would like to thank you for the compassion and support you have shown towards me since the day I arrived.''

''I believe the experience I have gathered during my four-month stay here has been a very important one. I have learned a lot from my manager Jürgen Klopp and all my teammates and I was proud to be part of this special family.

''I will always remember my days here at Liverpool with great happiness and the special song which you have kindly gifted me.

“YNWA, Ozan”

I will always remember my days here at Liverpool

Klopp's thoughts on Kabak

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had his say on Kabak's contribution to the team in the second half of the Premier League campaign.

“Ozan was absolutely incredible,'' he said. ''He did a great job and not to forget he is a young, young, young boy with incredible experience already.

£18M for Kabak and we haven’t paid it, I don’t understand
— ً (@TheImmortalKop) June 30, 2021

“He was in different clubs, moved early from Turkey to Germany. Played in two big clubs in Germany in difficult situations, which is obviously not his fault.

“We could all see when he arrived here he needed a little bit of time to adapt. Then he played super games for us; I don’t want to pick any games out, but the two Leipzig games were absolutely incredible if you think how good Leipzig can be.”