Ian Doyle has named one up-and-coming talent at Liverpool who Jurgen Klopp ‘really likes’.
It’s two years to the day that a then 17-year-old Kaide Gordon was given his Premier League debut off the bench against Brentford, a week after he became the Reds’ youngest-ever FA Cup goalscorer when netting in a third round win over Shrewsbury.
Sadly, the teenager has been sidelined for most of the intervening period because of a pelvic problem, although he was given a rare start for the senior side in the final Europa League group game away to Union Saint-Gilloise last month.
Speaking on the Blood Red Podcast, Doyle singled out the young winger as a player who’s made a serious impression on the first-team manager, saying: “I think in terms of Liverpool, I know he’s not new but I think Kaide Gordon is great, and Jurgen Klopp really likes him as well.”
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The world seemed to be Gordon’s oyster at the start of 2022 – he was even selected to start in the second leg of Liverpool’s Carabao Cup semi-final triumph over Arsenal that year – but the aforementioned pelvic injury has prevented him from truly taking flight at Anfield thus far.
Thankfully he now seems to be making up for lost time as he builds up his game-time with the under-21s before potentially looking to nudge his way back into Klopp’s thinking for further first-team contention.
Such was the 19-year-old’s impact upon getting his senior bow a couple of years ago that Joe Gomez said the teenager has ‘no ceiling’ to his potential, also praising his ‘level-headed mindset’ and noting the ‘extra’ work he’d been doing in addition to regular team training (GOAL).
That combination of ability and attitude should serve Gordon very well as he seeks to build upon his five first-team outings for Liverpool, and it ought to help him no end that he has a manager who rates him very highly.
Hopefully 2024 can be for the winger what 2022 had promised to be until fate cruelly conspired against him.