James Pearce has made the case for Jurgen Klopp to give one talented youngster at Liverpool some first-team minutes during the final month of the season.
A series of injuries to key players earlier this year led to Jayden Danns being called up to the senior side, with his four appearances including a substitute outing in the Carabao Cup final and two goals in the FA Cup win over Southampton.
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In an article for The Athletic in which he discussed the Reds’ ‘wayward finishing’ in recent games, the journalist called for the 18-year-old to be utilised off the bench as a possible solution to the team’s attacking woes of late.
Pearce wrote: “There is also an argument to be made that young Jayden Danns should be used as an impact sub. The teenager did not look out of place when used earlier in the campaign and scored a brilliant back-heel for the under-21s against Manchester United last Friday.”
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Klopp has nothing to lose by trusting in Danns over the final few weeks of Liverpool’s season, especially at a time when several of our senior forwards are misfiring.
The teenager has shown that he can score at this level, and as Pearce referenced, his goal in the under-21’s victory over United last week was a thing of beauty.
The 18-year-old trained with the Reds’ squad today ahead of the Europa League clash against Atalanta on Thursday night, and imagine what an effective wildcard option he could be off the bench if we stage a revival after the 3-0 battering at Anfield six days ago.
Even if the tie gets away from us, it could be worth throwing Danns into the fray to give him further minutes with an eye to possibily utilising him across our final six Premier League matches of the campaign.
He came good a few weeks ago in Liverpool’s hour of need during the injury crisis. He deserves to be given another shot amid the ongoing fallow period in the final third for our senior attackers.
I agree with the proposal for Danns to start or at least utilize from the bench at the 2bd half. After all none of the current forwards is able to score even with open goal.