Liverpool youngster Herbie Kane remains an ambiguous prospect for next season after an ill-timed injury during a loan spell with Hull City has hampered his chances of securing a move to a football league club for the 2020/21 campaign.
Kane, is a Bristol-born midfielder who models himself to Steven Gerrard has been with the club for a number of years now since signing for the Merseyside outfit as a teenager from Bristol City in 2013.
The 21-year-old was regularly captain of the U18 Liverpool side that was managed by Gerrard during his spell as a coach at Kirkby in the 2017/18 season.
The late-blooming set-piece specialist was handed his Liverpool debut by Jurgen Klopp last year during a 2-0 League Cup victory over MK Dons in September 2019.
He also started under Neil Critchley during Liverpool’s Carabao Cup quarter-final clash with Aston Villa that saw the club’s then-youngest ever Reds side defeated at the hands of Dean Smith’s full-strength Villans.
Huge setback
Kane is still recovering from a back injury that he sustained during his time with Hull and manager Grant McCann whom Kane also endured a loan spell with at Doncaster Rovers during the 2018/19 campaign.
Kane made the League One Team of the Season in his inaugural campaign in professional football after clocking up 49 appearances and scoring seven goals.
The midfielder is expected to be sidelined until the end of September, which may scupper his chances of a move away from Anfield considering first-team opportunities already seem limited.
Recent contract extension to the likes of Leighton Clarkson and Jake Cain suggests that Klopp’s midfield possibilities from the academy are hugely competitive and given Kane’s injury-woes a season on the sidelines could be a possibility.
A summer move, either temporary or permanent would arguably Kane’s best option to aid his development next season yet the uncertainty regarding his current physical condition makes matters very complicated.
Goal have recently claimed that Kane has undergone surgery following a back problem that has limited the youngster to just seven Championship appearances in 2020 and has seen him out of action since February.
Predicted for greatness
It’s been a terribly unfortunate period for a player that is highly regarded among the coaching staff at Anfield. Kane was recently predicted for greatness by his former coach and current Rangers manager Gerrard.
In his 2016 autobiography, the former Liverpool captain tipped Kane as well as teammate and Premier League Young Player of the Season Trent Alexander-Arnold as two little-known Liverpool youngsters who were destined for stardom.
“These boys (Alexander-Arnold and Kane) really caught my eye,” wrote Gerrard in My Story (2016), who is arguably the most influential captain in Liverpool’s history.
Kane remains a hugely talented figure and time could still be on the youngster’s side. What happens over the next 12 months will be crucial for him, whether he stays put or indeed is rewarded with another loan move.
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