When Jurgen Klopp likes a player he is not afraid to say it.
Barely a Liverpool vs Leicester fixture has gone by during the German's six-and-a-bit years in England when the name of Jamie Vardy hasn't been on his lips either before or after the match, with the inclination often that he'd have loved to have got his hands on the Foxes legend earlier in both of their careers.
It was Gabriel Martinelli who was the object of his affections after Thursday night's Carabao Cup semi-final victory over Arsenal though, and with good reason.
The young Brazilian was terrific in the opening exchanges of the match, pulling out to the Arsenal left and running at Trent Alexander-Arnold, who had the youngster Kaide Gordon in front of him.
Arsenal's early promise didn't last, with Liverpool - and in particular Alexander-Arnold - rising to their task and turning in a terrific performance, but Klopp didn't forget about those early exchanges.
"Martinelli by the way... everybody should remember that name," was his take on the Arsenal No.35 after the match. "Outstanding player."
That praise followed on from similarly effusive words after Liverpool and Arsenal had engaged in another Carabao Cup battle - the remarkable 5-5 draw between the sides in October 2019, in which Martinelli scored twice before Liverpool won on penalties in a thrilling contest.
Remarking on Martinelli up against his young defender Sepp van den Berg, Klopp said: "Martinelli’s pretty much the same age but he’s a talent of the century, he’s an incredible striker, so it’s really difficult [to play against him]."
Klopp is sure to like a lot about the Brazilian - his work-rate, pace and finishing ability mainly - but he will also admire the way that Arsenal brought him to the club.
The forward wasn't just a relative unknown when he arrived from the Brazilian third tier in July 2019, he was a complete unknown.
The teenager admitted that he had trouble adjusting to his lofty surroundings at the grand setting of the Gunners, even stating that he felt overawed at times.
"When I turned up it was lunchtime, and only [Pierre-Emerick] Aubameyang was sat at the table," he once recalled to FourFourTwo. "My first thought was, ‘F***!’
"I sat next to him, a bit shy, but as Auba speaks Spanish, he struck up a conversation and asked where I was from. We had a nice chat.
"After that, there were some pre-season assessments at the gym. All the players were there: [Mesut] Ozil, [Alexandre] Lacazette, Auba... but I couldn’t speak a word of English. ‘Oh my god’ was my initial reaction."
That humble approach is sure to go down well with Klopp, who values personalities of players just as much as their ability.
The fact that Arsenal did the deal on the cheap - around £6million - would also get the pangs of jealousy rising in the Liverpool manager, who might just wish that Liverpool's renowned scouting department had picked up Martinelli before Arsenal did.
Because he'll know that Liverpool need to find a Martinelli of their own.
The Reds have shown that they usually aren't interested in engaging in bidding wars and looking to pay top dollar for established names, and as they search for fresh blood upfront they are likely to go down the unheralded route again.
Regardless of the contract issues around Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Martinelli's compatriot Roberto Firmino, Liverpool's attack needs to get younger very soon, even if the brilliant Diogo Jota is a good start.
Without the state-backed budgets of some, Liverpool are likely to need to be clever in the coming years to add to their squad.
They won't be able to prise Martinelli from Arsenal unless something drastic happens, but they need to be at the front of the queue for the next one.
