Former Liverpool Under-23 coach Michael Beale has heaped praise on Jurgen Klopp for providing young players an opportunity to play in the first team and says the German manager is the right man to lead the Reds.

The Merseyside club parted ways with their former manager Brendan Rodgers in October 2015 and the Northern Irishman was replaced by Klopp in that same month. Klopp latter helped Liverpool reach the EFL Cup and the Europa League final, losing both the finals to Manchester City and Sevilla, respectively.

Klopp has promoted academy players to the first team during his reign at Anfield. The most notable ones are Kevin Stewart and Sheyi Ojo, who have made over more 10 appearances under the guidance of the former Borussia Dortmund manager. In addition to this, Ovie Ejaria and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been fairly utilised by Klopp at Liverpool.

Beale, who left his post at Liverpool to become an assistant manager at Brazilian club Sao Paulo, explained how the opportunities for youngsters in the first team will motivate other players in the academy.

"Jurgen Klopp likes to integrate young players [in the first team squad]," Beale told IBTimes UK in an exclusive interview.

"This is fantastic. If you have 18 debuts in two-and-a-half years, it's not just the 18 players who feel the luckiest in the world but the other guys in the academy also get great confidence and motivation.

"The same is with the coaches. If you are a youth coach, you have to feel your work is making progress and the only way to see that is to see the players progressing and doing well."

"Jurgen is one of the managers in the Premier League who is doing this. I think he deserves a big applause for that."

Beale also added that when it comes to spending money it's not easy for Liverpool to compete with clubs like Chelsea or Manchester United every year.

"I think it is difficult and the money is so high and Liverpool are not the highest spenders although they are one of the biggest ones. Certainly you have Chelsea, Manchester City and United in front. To compete with them every year, it's not as easy as people may think."

"The people in the city can really relate to him and that is a big thing in Liverpool. The people have a feeling their manager understands how they feel.

"At Liverpool, the fans love when the manager gives a young player an opportunity. It is so important that Klopp is their manager at the moment because he has a small squad and promotes the young players to train and gives them these opportunities."

Jurgen Klopp
Jurgen Klopp replaced Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool in October 2015 Getty