Arne Slot must decide whether to include teenager Trey Nioni in the first-team squad for Wednesday’s game against West Ham or the Under-21 EFL Trophy tie on Tuesday.
After Neyoni’s impressive pre-season, supporters have been hoping he can do more for Liverpool.
Slot said the 17-year-old was “quite likely” to feature for Liverpool against West Ham on Wednesday, but that would only be if he did not feature for the Under-21s against Harrogate’s first team on Tuesday night.
“First of all, we’ll see how everyone comes in this morning, and then we’ll make a plan for each individual, where he’s going to play and whether he’s going to play,” the head coach explained Tuesday.
“If I think about it now, it’s probably fair that he could join our squad instead of the U-21 squad. But it depends on the condition of the other players.”
As one of the few first-team prospects not out on loan this season, there were expectations he would feature in some capacity under Sloat in the coming months.
Wednesday’s Carabao Cup third-round tie offers a potential opportunity for him to make his first competitive appearance for Liverpool since his debut against Southampton in February.
The development of Nyoni
Slot added of Nyoni’s progress: “He’s a really young player. He’s only 17 but he’s shown a lot of talent and has made an impact in pre-season. He even scored against Sevilla.
“He has talent, but talent alone is not enough to play regularly for the first team, so we have to keep developing him.
“He needs game time to develop, so sometimes as a manager you might think, ‘Oh, maybe I need him in the first team.’
“But it’s really important that he continues to play his game.
“That’s why he played for Milan at the U19 level. If he wants to improve, he needs to train with us and continue to get game time at the highest level possible.
“I think training with all the midfielders and all the players we have will help him develop. So we are looking after him well and we know he is only 17 years old.”
On Sunday, both he and Tyler Morton were substituted by manager Barry Lieutas and played less than 70 minutes in the 3-1 win over Derby U21s.
Slot wasn’t asked specifically about Morton in his press conference, but it’s likely his thought process for the 21-year-old, who led the team and scored against Derby for the Academy, was similar.
While Neoni and Morton may not feature for the U21s against Harrogate, new signing Rio Ngumoha could get a chance.
He joined from Chelsea in the summer and has been playing for Mark Bridge-Wilkinson’s Under-18s ever since.
Players set to feature against Harrogate include Kieran Morrison, Trent Conn Doherty and Amara Nalloh, all of whom are regarded as rising stars coming out of Liverpool’s youth system.
This is Anfield‘s Joanna Durkan will be in Yorkshire to cover the EFL Trophy match, which kicks off at 7.45pm (BST) on Tuesday.
