What can Liverpool expect from Joe Allen next season?

The Welsh international also possess an astute football brain and his reading of the play allows him to nip in to intercept the ball when defending and the ability to know almost instinctively where his teammates are when he is on the ball.

Perhaps most importantly, with his shoulder problem now behind him, the Anfield faithful are set to witness one of the attributes often referred to by Rodgers when alluding to Allen’s strengths – his body work.

“He is a unique player in that he is a British player who doesn’t give the ball away,” said Rodgers on Allen’s arrival.

“You will see when he comes into this team the difference he can make. He’s incredible on the ball, his body work and intelligence for a 22-year-old is frightening.

“He is in love with the football,” he added. “He wants the ball all the time, and he has so much courage to get on the ball and play.”

It is this that highlights just how much the shoulder injury, certainly considering the severity of it, is likely to have affected Allen’s game.

Brendan Rodgers confirmed that pressing on the shoulder with your thumb would have broken it in the final weeks before the operation. Bearing that in mind, it is clear to see why Allen didn’t scale the heights he did in the opening months of the season as the season wore on and the condition of his shoulder deteriorated.

Knowing the slightest contact could result in a serious injury, it is surely little wonder the Welshman was loathe to go into challenges with the tenacity he showed in August or use his body to shield the ball as effectively as he did before the chronic shoulder injury took its toll, even if only subconsciously.

Without such concerns, Liverpool are likely to benefit hugely from a fully fit, unburdened Joe Allen. The quality on the ball that has been evident throughout his first season in the North West is now likely to be complimented by a physicality and resolve somewhat surprising for a player of such a slight stature.

Allen has played down the impact had on his form but the feeling that injury robbed him of the chance to perform to his maximum for much of the season must linger at the back of his mind. He will be determined to make up for that lost time when the new season kicks off in August, and, for Rodgers and Liverpool, it could be just the boost they need as they look to push on to the next level.