James Balagizi took to Twitter and offered an explanation after not making Liverpool’s pre-season squad. The 17-year-old was a surprise omission.
James Balagizi won’t go to pre-season with Liverpool this summer and that’s a bit of a shock on the face of it. He’s one of the brightest young talents at the club.
And it’s not as though Liverpool aren’t taking youngsters with them. They announced their squad on Friday, including Owen Beck, Kaide Gordon, Mateusz Musialowski, Tyler Morton, and Conor Bradley.
No Balagizi, though, despite him looking like a very bright prospect and shining at youth level.
But there appears to be a simple enough explanation. Balagizi reacted to the omission with a video on Twitter – and he looks injured.
“What’s meant for you won’t miss you,” he wrote. “Back ASAP!!!”
The 17-year-old then showed off a cast on his arm. We can be pretty certain that’s the reason for his absence this summer.
Balagizi to miss pre-season
It’s certainly a blow for both the player and the team. We imagine Liverpool would have really liked to see what he can do among first-team stars, after all.
But Balagizi is still so young. He doesn’t turn 18 until September and this is just one pre-season of many to come. There’s little doubt that he’ll get his chance eventually.
And depending on the cup competitions, that might come this season. We’ve seen how Liverpool can use their youth players in order to rest the first-team and there’s a good chance it happens again this year.
So this is definitely a blow for Balagizi and a setback. It’s not the end of the world, though, and we still firmly believe he’ll put himself in the first-team picture before long.
He’s just too talented for something like this to hurt him too badly.