We analyse what the next generation of Liverpool youngsters could offer, and why new boss Arne Slot might turn to some of them early in the 2024-25 Premier League campaign.
When Arne Slot and his coaching staff began putting out the cones for the first training session at Liverpool in early July, they would have been forgiven for asking if they were in the right place. It is a common question that new employees ask when trying to navigate a fresh workplace during their first few days in a job.
The Dutchman may have asked the question when they were essentially greeted by the club’s Under-21s squad, with a sprinkling of academy prospects who looked like they might be on work experience. A few older faces may have reassured Slot, but he was low on experienced players.
With Liverpool having 13 first-team players representing their countries at Euro 2024 and the Copa America, Slot was going to have to wait a while before being introduced to many of his senior options.
Nine of those reached at least the semi-finals of their respective competitions, and so the early weeks of pre-season and the tour of the United States have not featured a significant chunk of recognisable Reds. The likes of Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alexis Mac Allister and Alisson are among those who won’t be back in training until early August.
Former Feyenoord boss Slot was praised for placing his trust in young players during his title-winning reign in the Eredivisie, and with so many senior players returning late to pre-season, it presents an opportunity to impress for the long list of youngsters who were given a taste of action under former manager Jürgen Klopp last season.
In total, 1,193 Premier League minutes were given to Liverpool players under the age of 21 last season. By contrast, Arsenal players under 21 years old only saw 13 minutes of action.
As you can see from the graphics below, Klopp did give plenty of chances to youth but leant on experience in the main, whereas Slot’s main players were often a fair bit more youthful, with 10 of the 25 players he used being 23 or younger.
Klopp’s final campaign at Anfield had its ups and downs, which included an unforgettable EFL Cup final victory over Chelsea at Wembley when the German coach had to turn to a number of inexperienced youngsters.
During the course of the season, Conor Bradley and Jarrell Quansah went from exciting academy prospects to two of the first names on the team sheet on occasion.
With so many players still away and less than three weeks before Liverpool take on Ipswich Town at Portman Road on the opening matchday of the new Premier League season, we take a look at some of the young guns who Slot may call on to ignite this new era on Merseyside.
Fabio Carvalho
The former Fulham wonderkid signed for Liverpool as a 19-year-old at the beginning of the 2022-23 season but failed to cement a position in Klopp’s team. Carvalho did show some moments of quality during the season, including a fine strike in the 9-0 thrashing of Bournemouth and, most notably, a 98th-minute winner against Newcastle United just a few days later, much to the delight of the Anfield faithful.
He was sent on loan to RB Leipzig at the start of last season but returned in the winter before being sent back out on loan to Championship side Hull City in January. Carvalho had far more game time under Liam Rosenior and regained the type of form that saw Liverpool move for him in the first place.
He played as a number 10 and sometimes as a striker for Hull, amassing 11 goal involvements in 20 games during the second half of the season (nine goals, two assists). Across his four months in England’s second tier, he recorded the second-most chances created from open play and was instrumental in Hull’s climb up the table, only missing out on the play-offs on the final day.
Carvalho is taking part in Liverpool’s pre-season preparations and should do so full of confidence and ready for a fresh start under a new manager. With Slot’s approach often including a more attack-minded midfielder, Carvalho should feel he has an opportunity to capitalise on players such as Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo returning late from their post-tournament breaks.
If he can carry on his Hull form and impress Slot in pre-season, Carvalho may become a viable option in the early weeks of Liverpool’s campaign.
Tyler Morton
Morton stands out from the rest of the current crop of Liverpool kids due to the amount of senior football he’s played in the last two years. Having tallied 79 Championship games for Blackburn Rovers (40) and Hull (39) in the past two seasons, Morton will be hoping to lean on that experience to impress the new coaches in pre-season.
A traditional deep-lying midfielder, the 21-year-old Liverpool lad had a passing accuracy of 88.5% last season, ranking him 18th of midfielders in the Championship who played at least 1,000 minutes.
He linked up with fellow Liverpool loanee Carvalho in the second half of the season, and from the time the former Fulham man arrived, only Jaden Philogene – who recently moved back to Aston Villa – had more attacking sequence involvements than the Liverpool pair for the Tigers.
Morton may wish to continue playing regular football this season, with Red Bull pair of Leipzig and Salzburg heavily linked as interested parties. He also faces direct competition in his favoured role from Wataru Endo and Stefan Bajcetic, who we’ll come to shortly. The doubts around the long-term suitability of Endo and Bajcetic’s fitness could play in Morton’s favour, though.
If Slot likes what he sees in pre-season, Morton may be given chances to impress. Liverpool fans unsure about him might be interested to see the Opta Player Radar comparison has likened him to former Reds captain and midfield stalwart Jordan Henderson among others based on some of his data from last season.
Stefan Bajcetic
Some would say the heartbeat of Liverpool’s success in recent years was to be found in the midfield department. Klopp’s favoured gegenpressing style and his use of attacking full-backs meant his midfielders were the key component when it came to regaining possession and covering the space.
A pile-up of injuries halfway through the 2022-23 season meant Klopp was given no other option than to thrust 17-year-old Bajcetic into the base of his midfield. What followed was a potential glimpse into the future as the baby-faced Spaniard showcased his classy composure on the ball and a strong appetite for a slide-tackle.
Bajcetic burst onto the scene like Micah Richards, scoring his first senior goal in a 3-1 victory at Villa Park on Boxing Day in 2022. He began getting starts after that and his inclusion in the lineup coincided with Liverpool regaining some momentum in their season.
His run in the team came to a halt through injury shortly after starting in the Champions League against Real Madrid in March 2023. Last season, Bajcetic featured in only three games, with one start and a total of 98 minutes after being dogged by injuries.
He’s back now and participating fully in pre-season training, though, and will be eager to make up for lost time.
You can present all the data in the world to highlight a player’s abilities but if they don’t pass the ‘eye-test’, it can be difficult to convince some people. Bajcetic has no issues in this regard, as his subtle drop of a shoulder and slick passing left Liverpool fans excited at the prospect of him developing into a serious player in the coming years.
As you can see from the graph above, his numbers for interceptions and tackle success during the period he was a regular in the 2022-23 season were up there with some of the best young midfielders in the Premier League. Between December 2022 and March 2023, Bajcetic ranked fourth for tackle success (66.7%) among Premier League midfielders aged 23 and under, and fourth for interceptions per 90 minutes (1.6). Still only 19, his development will be keenly anticipated for the coming season if he can put his injury issues behind him.
With Liverpool reportedly looking for a new defensive midfielder, Bajcetic will be aiming to put his case forward. If he does feature prominently, fans will be able to hear more of his hybrid Spanish-scouse accent.
Owen Beck
Someone who may have gone under the radar in the pool of emerging youngsters is 21-year-old left back Owen Beck. Having only made two substitute appearances for Liverpool’s first team in the 2021-22 season, loan moves to Portuguese side Famalicão and League One Bolton Wanderers saw Beck get very little football. However, he was sent to Dundee in the Scottish Premiership last season, where things clicked.
Beck – nephew of former Liverpool great Ian Rush – quickly became a fan’s favourite at Dens Park as he flourished in Scotland, leading to Rangers and Celtic reportedly looking at him in the January transfer window and even being selected in the PFA Scottish Premiership Team of the Season.
Rangers captain James Tavernier was the only defender to complete more dribbles than Beck last season in Scotland’s top tier. The young Welshman also ranked second for successful crosses (58) and third for chances created (56) among defenders.
On the surface, Liverpool appear to be fairly stacked at left-back, with Andrew Robertson, Kostas Tsimikas and Joe Gomez all playing there last season and all still at the club. However, an opportunity could still arise for Beck.
Robertson is still clearly first choice, although he is now 30 and has seen his pre-season involvement delayed by an injury sustained at Euro 2024. Tsimikas has been linked with a move away and Gomez being right-footed might not be ideal for Slot’s preferred tactic of having overlapping full-backs.
So, if Beck can impress on the US tour, game time may fall his way. He could take some inspiration from his good mate Conor Bradley, who carved a place for himself in the first team after an impressive loan spell at Bolton the previous season.
Sepp van den Berg
It has been a slow build at Anfield for the young Dutch centre-back, who joined Liverpool as a 17-year-old in 2019. Sporadic appearances in the EFL Cup did not fill supporters with much hope that he could one day become successor to his countryman Van Dijk. He had the height, but there were clear deficiencies in Van den Berg’s game, most notably on the ball.
However, following successful loan moves to Preston North End, Schalke and Mainz in recent years, the 22-year-old looks to have returned to Liverpool this summer a transformed defender both in technical ability and physical stature, having filled out his frame a bit more. He was ranked among the best defenders in Europe last season for aerial ability, winning 173 of 252 aerial duels, the most by a defender in the top five leagues.
Of defenders aged under 23 last season who contested at least 165 duels, only Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite (68%) had a better duel success rate in Europe’s top five leagues than Van den Berg (65%), with him ranking alongside Levi Colwill and ahead of Riccardo Calafiori and Leny Yoro.
Van den Berg’s performances for Mainz in the Bundesliga last season led to plenty of transfer speculation this summer, with clubs such as PSV, Hoffenheim and Stuttgart reportedly expressing interest in the defender. It seems Slot wants a look at him in pre-season, though.
Ultimately, his future could lie elsewhere, but with Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté and Gomez all arriving back late to pre-season, Slot may turn to Van den Berg for cover in the opening fixtures of next season. Slot, who played and managed in Van den Berg’s hometown of Zwolle, will have a big decision to make over the future of the big defender.
Trey Nyoni
The youngest of them all is midfielder Nyoni. The former Leicester City youth prospect made just one cameo appearance at 16 years of age last season, so most Liverpool supporters would have thought he would come to prominence a couple more years down the line.
However, if the early signs of pre-season are anything to go by, it appears Slot is a big fan of the now 17-year-old. Nyoni replaced Curtis Jones midway through the first half of the friendly against Real Betis on Friday, and he dazzled fans in Pittsburgh with his passing through the lines and ability to create time and space for himself. It was only one game, but the fact Slot turned to him as his first sub ahead of the likes of Morton and Bajcetic shows the impression the England Under-18 international has made this summer.
Nyoni’s passing accuracy of 89% ranked sixth for all midfielders who played over 1,000 minutes in Premier League 2 last season and his return of 91% against Betis in the double-pivot will have left fans eager to see more in Liverpool’s upcoming friendlies in the United States against Arsenal and Manchester United.
Slot was full of praise for Nyoni in his post-match press conference and if he’s able to continue his early season form, there may be a Premier League debut coming his way soon. However, Slot did say to reporters: “He’s only just turned 17 and his body still has to grow. We are really careful with him… He needs some time to grow to play at Premier League level but he’s an interesting player.”
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