Nathaniel Clyne has revealed idolising Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola when he was younger, partly because he wanted to be a striker and regularly get amongst the goals.

Liverpool hoovered up the 24-year-old defender from Southampton earlier this summer and Clyne has quickly made the right-back slot his own at Anfield with a series of accomplished displays.




The England international has also carried a threat going forward along the right flank and he admits that surging forward is something he enjoys.

Indeed Clyne, taking inspiration from Zola, did want to be a striker in his younger days.
 

 

He told his club's official site: "Ideally I wanted to be a striker. I liked playing up front and scoring goals.

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"But I always had this hunger in me to run after people and get the ball back and I was really good at it so they decided I was better off as a defender.

"Back in the day I used to like Gianfranco Zola.

"He was a top player.

"I liked him because he was small and I was small. I’m still small now", Clyne added.

Zola made a total of 312 appearances for Chelsea in all competitions, scoring 80 goals, something which inspired Clyne.

The defender has helped Liverpool to seventh place in the Premier League so far this season and will be aiming to continue his good run of form when the Reds visit fierce rivals Manchester United after the international break.