Liverpool face West Ham as they begin their defence of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday night, with Arne Slot set to juggle his pack and a space in midfield potentially on offer to Trey Nyoni, who continues to impress and develop.
Liverpool youngster Trey Nyoni could make his first competitive appearance of the season for the Reds in the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool kick off their defence of the Carabao Cup on Wednesday when West Ham United visit Anfield. The third round tie poses an opportunity for new head coach Arne Slot to rotate his squad - and one player who could feature is Trey Nyoni.
The Reds' youngsters suffered penalty shootout disappointment away at Harrogate Town in the Bristol Street Motors Trophy on Tuesday but among the notable absentees was Nyoni and Tyler Morton. Many suggested that the omission from Barry Lewtas' side could see either one or both of the under-21s making the move up to the first-team.
The 17-year-old has enjoyed a rise to prominence in the Liverpool academy set-up after arriving from Leicester City last season. He has already made his Liverpool competitive bow, featuring in the 3-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup at the tender age of 16, before featuring prominent during the pre-season tour of America.
Slot kept his cards close to his chest regarding whether Nyoni would feature against the Hammers during Tuesday's pre-match press conference, he said: "Let’s see first how everybody comes in this morning and then we make a plan for every individual, where he is going to play and if they are going to play.
The way I look at it now, it would be a fair chance for him to be in our squad instead of being with the U21s, but it also depends on how fit all the other players are."
The England youth international has already captured praise from his Liverpool teammates, including Harvey Elliott. During the American stretch of pre-season, Slot was keen not to overwork the youngster with Nyoni sitting out some of the sessions, due to their intensity.
Elliott was among the established and senior Liverpool players to offer advice during the gruelling preparations for the Premier League campaign. He said: "Trey has got everything in him.
He showed it the other night and he is fearless for such a young age, that goes without saying. He just needs to keep going and trust the process.
We have gone around to him and spoken to him and, you know, the seniors as well who have been around it a lot longer than I have, they have spoken to him as well. He has got everything and he just needs to keep going in the right way, keep trusting the process and I am sure his time will come."
Nyoni was among the youngsters included during Liverpool's success in the same tournament that kicks off with the visit of Julen Lopetegui's side on Wednesday. Although he never mustered a competitive minute, he did pick up a winner's medal after featuring on the bench in the two-legged semi-final as well as the dramatic extra-time win over Chelsea at Wembley.
It marked an astronomical couple of months for the former Foxes youngster, who'd only signed at the beginning of the season - six months earlier. He left the Midlands club and joined Liverpool as part of a double-swoop for the Reds academy with Amara Nallo arriving from West Ham United, in another example of the Kirkby academy staff utilising the stringent Brexit rules to lure top talents in the country to Merseyside.
Guy Branston, former loan manager and academy coach at Leicester, noted in an interview earlier this year that you could see his talent from an early age. He said: "You’re watching him train at the training ground and you’re getting wind that he’s a super talent.
You’re watching him play up and he’s still flagging up. Then since I’ve left, he’s stepped into the U16s and U18s and then watched him around the England set-up as well."
Nyoni captained Liverpool's youth team in their recent draw against AC Milan in the UEFA Youth League and he is already making an impact on the coaches within the academy ranks, featuring heavily in the Reds first-team preparations.
To what degree he will feature for the Reds remains to be seen but there's a quiet optimism bubbling around the 17-year-old - and Liverpool supporters could get a competitive glimpse when the London club visit.
Arne Slot has unsurprisingly rung the changes for Liverpool in tonight’s Carabao Cup tie against West Ham, with just two players keeping their places in the starting XI from the win over Bournemouth last weekend.
A first Reds start for Federico Chiesa is the standout bit of team news, although Paul Gorst was a little surprised to see one talented youngster miss out on the matchday squad entirely.
When Nyoni was left out of the under-21s’ clash in the EFL Trophy last night, it suggested that he’d be involved in the matchday squad for Liverpool’s Carabao Cup fixture against West Ham.
However, he was a notable omission from a strong substitutes’ bench named by Slot, with Vitezslav Jaros and Tyler Morton the only non-regulars among those waiting in the wings tonight.
Even though he only turned 17 in the summer, the ex-Leicester starlet served notice of his prodigious talents with some fine displays with the first team in pre-season, with the highlight being his goal against Sevilla at Anfield on the second weekend of August.
We share Gorst’s surprise with Nyoni not featuring among the matchday squad against the Irons, although it seems from the list of players in reserve that Slot is indeed taking the Carabao Cup very seriously from the get-go.
Hopefully we’ll see the gifted teenager being given first-team opportunities at some point in the season.
At just 17 years old, Nyoni is an exciting talent who has captured the imagination of many Liverpool supporters who believe he is the future of the club. Slot spoke on his availability and how he will get his chance in the competition.
“Let’s see first how everybody comes in this morning and then we make a plan for every individual, where he is going to play and if they are going to play. The way I look at it now, it would be a fair chance for him to be in our squad instead of being with the U21s, but it also depends on how fit all the other players are.”
Nyoni may be young but Slot thinks he could play a huge role in the side especially after what was an impressive preseason for the youngster.
“I think what you say is true, he is a young player – really young, only just became 17, but with a lot of talent. He had some impact in pre-season and when he played against Seville he even scored a goal. So, a talent but only being a talent is not enough to play on a regular basis for the first team, so we need to keep developing him.
He needs playing time, he needs playing time to develop and that’s why sometimes as a manager you feel like, ‘We might need him with the first team’ but it’s so, so important for him to keep playing his games. That’s why he played in Milan also with the U19s, because for him to develop he needs to train with us and he needs to keep having his playing time at the highest possible level.
“I think training with the likes of all the midfielders and players we have helps him to develop as well. So, we take good care of him and we are aware of the fact he has just became 17 – and that’s probably also the reason why people see him as such a talent because he already showed some interesting things at this age.”
Wednesday’s clash with the Hammers could be the perfect opportunity for Nyoni to prove his worth once again as Slot looks to rotate his side before the weekend fixture against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Opportunity may come calling for one exciting Liverpool prodigy ahead of the Reds’ upcoming Carabao Cup clash with West Ham on Wednesday.
The midfielder has yet to feature for the first team since his impressive involvement during the pre-season tour of the United States.
The teenager was rightly on the receiving end of plaudits for his mature performances ahead of the 2024/25 campaign.
After a 4-1 win against Seville, in which Nyoni had registered his side’s third goal of the day, Jarell Quansah admitted he was in awe of the youngster’s ‘unbelievable’ finishing.
“He has stepped up this pre-season and showed a lot of quality. Because of some of the players returning from internationals [later], he has been able to step up and really show his confidence. You saw that today in the finish, it was unbelievable,” the Reds’ Academy graduate told the club’s official website.
All eyes inevitably be on Federico Chiesa following another cameo outing against Bournemouth.
However, we shouldn’t be inclined to forget entirely about one young talent potentially joining the Italian international on the bench tomorrow.
A cup clash against a Hammers side that will also likely see major rotations following a 3-0 hammering at home to Chelsea presents an ideal opportunity to whet Nyoni’s appetite for senior minutes.
We’d be surprised to see our starlet handed a huge chunk of minutes right off the bat, though perhaps a half-hour cameo isn’t entirely beyond the realms. Depending on how well we’re faring in the tie, of course!
