Dominic Solanke has admitted he may have been ‘too young’ to flourish during his Liverpool days and revealed it ‘always means a little bit more’ to face the Reds.

The now Tottenham Hotspur striker joined Liverpool in 2017 for a fee of around $3.8m (£3m/€3.6m), a price that was determined by an independent tribunal given Solanke was a teenager when he left Chelsea. But he failed to have a real impact at Anfield - perhaps unsurprisingly given the plethora of attacking talent Jurgen Klopp had at his disposal.

Solanke scored just one goal in 27 senior appearances and departed in 2019, joining Bournemouth. But in five-and-a-half years on the south coast the forward established himself as one of the most reliable English goalscorers, and has earned a second chance with a top club following his $81.7m (£65m/€78.3m) switch to Spurs in the summer.

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This time around he’s excelling, and Solanke’s time at Liverpool has helped him adjust to the pressure of representing one of the country’s most storied clubs.

“I was still very young and it might have been a bit too young for me going there, but I learned a lot and I was thankful for my time there,” Solanke said in a recent interview with PA, when asked about his stint on Merseyside.

“Every game you want to win and do well. Obviously when it’s an old club, it always means a little bit more because you see familiar faces and want to get the better of them. It will be another tough game but we’ll take that challenge.”

After a slow start in north London, Solanke has now netted nine in 22 appearances - including a brace in the midweek Carabao Cup win against Manchester United, which set up a double-legged semi-final clash with Liverpool. He’s targeting more in the coming weeks and wants to win a first trophy since leaving the Reds.

“I always want more goals no matter how many I score,” Solanke explained. “I would have liked to have a few more by now, but that’s always the mindset, you always want more. I think the main point is trying to get the consistency in the team right now and working towards some trophies.”

“I feel like I am where I wanted to be but I feel like I have still got a lot more to give though, so I will keep working and improving. And our main goal here is to win something now. The manager speaks about it all the time, we all obviously want to win something as well and that’s the dream of the football club.”

Solanke has never scored against Liverpool in eight previous appearances, a record Arne Slot will hope continues at Anfield on Sunday.