Paul Glatzel has finally hit form at Tranmere Rovers and his recent goalscoring run could give Liverpool a new attacking boost. Jürgen Klopp is a big fan.
When Paul Glatzel turned up to a Liverpool U23 game against Arsenal in mid-October, his loan spell seemed to have gone sideways.
Struggling for game time and with the permission of Tranmere Rovers, Glatzel played the full 90 minutes for Liverpool’s second-string side scoring one goal and registering an assist in an emphatic 3-0 victory.
But instead of giving up on his loan career, Glatzel used that game to discover a newfound momentum and a lifeline to carry back to Tranmere.
The 20-year-old forward has not looked back ever since having featured in every single one of Tranmere’s fixtures with one exception in League One.
And he has caught the eye too.
Glatzel has scored three goals and registered two assists in his last three games for Tranmere in all competitions playing a key role to secure important results for his side.
Over the weekend, Glatzel helped Tranmere overturn a two-nil deficit against Bristol Rovers assisting Tranmere’s first goal and scoring the vital equaliser.
In the EFL Trophy match against Oldham during the international break, Glatzel once again played a crucial role to overturn another two-nil deficit, scoring the goal to pull one back, assisting the equaliser before netting a winner with 15 minutes to go.
The Scouse-born forward, who is also eligible to play for Germany, is finally playing in his more comfortable central role, and Tranmere are reaping the rewards of Glatzel’s prowess in the position.
It has been a difficult couple of years for the talented forward with his development scuppered by a serious cruciate ligament rupture that saw Glatzel miss more than seven months of football. Prior to the injury, he had scored 28 goals for the club’s U18 side during the 2018/19 season.
Speaking about Glatzel’s injury, Jürgen Klopp pledged that he would remain “one of his boys” at the time. Back in 2019 when the injury occurred Glatzel had just made his first tentative steps in the club’s first team making his debut in pre-season.
The pair of them reportedly speak German in training and Glatzel’s style of play does make him a player who is suited to Klopp’s gegenpress system.
He has bounced back from the injury and looked bright for the club’s U23 sides last season before earning a move out on loan.
The 20-year-old forward is versatile, and he is capable of playing on the wing. He has the technical attributes to drift back into attacking transitions and instigate chances for his teammates. Despite, his ACL injury, he has not lost his pace either, and he can be explosive when necessary.
As Tranmere are discovering, he can be quite clinical in the final third, too having averaged 0.72 goal contributions for the club per 90 minutes so far.
If Glatzel can maintain that for the rest of the season, Liverpool could have a new wildcard boost to their attacking options next year.
