Jurgen Klopp is a "special coach", according to former Borussia Dortmund defender Markus Brzenska, who has described the Liverpool boss as an "outstanding" communicator and tactician.
Klopp carved out a reputation as one of the top coaches in European football during his time at Dortmund between 2008 and 2015.
BVB won five major honours during that period, including two Bundesliga titles, and also reached the 2013 Champions League final, only to be beaten by arch-rivals Bayern Munich.
Liverpool were impressed enough to appoint Klopp as their new permanent head coach in October 2015, which marked the beginning of a new, exciting era at Anfield.
Fast forward five years and the Reds have become European champions for a sixth time while also closing in on a first top-flight crown in 30 years.
Brzenska was immediately told he could leave when Klopp inherited the managerial reins at Westfalenstadion, but was quickly convinced of the German's qualities during Dortmund's pre-season campaign.
"Outstanding. He has his difficult sides too but the speeches and his training were something completely new," Brzenska told Goal of his short spell under Klopp's stewardship.
"We noticed immediately that he is a special coach. He was always honest with me. I was told in advance that they weren't planning to work with me anymore, but I did the pre-season anyway.
"Afterwards he came to me and said that I had played a good pre-season but unfortunately they didn't count on me anymore.
"Dortmund had brought in two new central defenders, Neven Subotic and Felipe Santana. So I knew that I would have no more prospects at the club."
Klopp is currently preparing his Liverpool squad for a return to Premier League action, with the coronavirus-enforced break in the season set to come to an end on June 17.
The Reds need only two more victories to be assured of the title, having already established a 25-point lead over reigning champions Manchester City at the top of the table.
Ahead of a Merseyside derby showdown against Everton later this month, Klopp has stressed the importance of getting the entire squad back up to speed with a view to also being ready for next season.
“We don’t have to be match-fit now,” he told Liverpool’s official website. “We try it with increasing intensity, day by day, but we have to be fit on the 19th or 20th, whichever day they will give us against Everton, I think. That’s the moment when we want to be at 100 per cent.
“It’s roundabout three weeks until then, that’s good. We want to use that and we will. It’s our pre-season; how I said, we don’t expect a long break in between the seasons, so this is a very important period for us."