Jurgen Klopp's forgotten first signing as Liverpool manager will be looking to bring down England at Euro 2024 this summer.
England head into Euro 2024 as one of the tournament favourites, having reached the final of Euro 2020 and the quarter-finals of the 2022 World Cup.
Gareth Southgate's side will kick off their group stage campaign on June 16th against Serbia, before taking on Slovenia and Denmark.
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Serbia will be motivated to beat England for political and historical reasons, but one player will be even more fired up for the occassion.
Marko Grujic may be familiar to some England fans, following his spell with Liverpool.
The Serbian midfielder joined Liverpool from Red Star Belgrade in January 2016, becoming Jurgen Klopp's first signing after the manager arrived at Anfield in October 2015.
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Klopp was desperate to sign Grujic after the youngster impressed in his homeland, and had to battle the likes of Inter Milan, AC Milan, Juventus and Chelsea in order to secure his signature.
The player's father held reservations about his son joining Liverpool, so Klopp's assistant Zeljko Buvac flew out to Serbia to convince the family that there son's future lay at Anfield.
Upon signing the 19-year-old, Klopp said: "He's a good boy, a young boy but plays an important role at the moment at Red Star, who are the best team in Serbia," said the German.
"He's a tall boy, but quick and good at technical things. He can play passes and can dribble."
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Grujic was immediately loaned back to Red Star for the rest of the season to continue his development, but he found life difficult when he joined up with his new teammates the following summer.
With Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana, James Milner, Emre Can, Lucas Leiva and Philippe Coutinho all ahead of him in the pecking order, Grujic made just five Premier League appearances in his debut campaign before a serious hamstring injury all but ended his season.
In 2018 he joined Cardiff City on loan before then spending two seasons in Germany with Hertha Berlin.
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Grujic's difficult period at Liverpool came to an end in 2020 when he joined Porto on loan, before the move was made permanent in 2021.
In 2021/22 he helped his new side win the league title, but minutes have been harder to come by this term.
Should Grujic help Serbia get a result against England in June, Liverpool's stars will be reminded of their former teammate's talent.
Topics: Liverpool, Euro 2024, England, Serbia, Jurgen Klopp, Premier League
Alex Brotherton