Jordan Henderson hailed the off-field influence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain when the midfielder was injured and predicts he will be "like a new signing" for Liverpool in the new season.
England international Oxlade-Chamberlain suffered a serious knee injury at the end of the 2017-18 campaign and missed most of the following season.
In 2018-19, the 25-year-old was only able to return for the final few weeks as he made two substitute appearances amounting to 19 minutes of action.
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However, he has been fully involved in pre-season training in recent weeks and club captain Henderson has his fingers crossed for the former Arsenal man.
"I'm quite close to him. He's a fantastic person off the field," Henderson said in a news conference on Thursday.
"I'm sure he'll have been going through some painful times [but] he was always positive, always happy around the team, always there to support us when we needed him.
"He was a massive part for us off the field last season. This season I hope he's a massive part on the field as well and shows everyone what he's capable of like he did before he got injured.
"This pre-season is important for him to get back to playing games regularly, to get his match fitness back, and I'm sure once he does that he'll be flying again.
"He's like a new signing for us. He's a fantastic player, so powerful and he gives us something different in this team. Hopefully he can stay injury-free for a while now."
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