I was too young when I joined Liverpool - Now I want to get the better of them
Dominic Solanke has enjoyed a quietly-impressive first half-season with Tottenham Hotspur. The former Liverpool striker joined the North London outfit in a £65m deal back in August.
The 27-year-old, who impressed with a 21-goal campaign for the Cherries last season, has nine goals from 22 appearances for Spurs to date. Perhaps unsurprisingly, such form earned him an England recall after a seven-year absence earlier this year.
Solanke will square off against the Reds on Sunday off the back of a match-winning brace against Manchester United in the League Cup on Thursday night. With his strikes helping earn a 4-3 win, he helped set-up a semi-final meeting with Liverpool in the process.
READ MORE: Alisson Becker sends warning to Liverpool team-mates and offers new injury update
Consequently, the striker is going to go up against his old club three times in the next six weeks, as he looks to derail their Premier League title bid and deny them a place in the League Cup final as he eyes up a potential first trophy with Tottenham.
The England international has already scored once against one of his old clubs this season, netting in Tottenham’s 4-3 loss to Chelsea earlier this month. Admitting such meetings with former employers mean more, Solanke - who has never scored against the Reds - will be hoping to get the better of Liverpool for only the second time in his career on Sunday.
Moving to Anfield at the end of his Chelsea contract in the summer of 2017, he scored just once from 27 appearances for the Reds. He was then sold to Bournemouth just 18 months later in a deal which eventually proved to be worth more than £30m to his former side.
Despite his Anfield career only being brief, Solanke admits he learned a lot at Liverpool, but concedes he was just too young to make a considerable impact when he joined the club - having been up against the then newly-launched attacking triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino at the time.
Now making the most of his latest opportunity at one of the biggest clubs in the country, he is hungry to prove himself against the Reds - even if he has nothing but positives to say about his former employers.
“I was still very young and it might have been a bit too young for me going there,” he told PA at Tottenham‘s One Hotspur Junior Christmas party earlier this week. “But I learned a lot and I was thankful for my time there.
“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.
“I always want more goals no matter how many I score. 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."
