Opinion

Arne Slot could be opening up a clear pathway to the first-team for ‘excellent’ Liverpool youngster

Add as preferred source on Google

Liverpool’s plan for the current transfer window is looking stranger and stranger by the day.

Not only are Liverpool failing to add players to their first-team squad, though, they also seem intent on moving a number of them out of it.

Bobby Clark is the latest to be sold, with the 19-year-old joining Pep Lijnders at RB Salzburg. Clark’s sale did not go down well with supporters.

As well as the midfielder, Liverpool will lose Sepp van den Berg before next Friday’s transfer deadline. The Dutchman is joining Brentford.

Although Van den Berg is set to bring in £25m for Liverpool, his exit does pose the question of who Arne Slot is lining up to replace him.

Amara Nallo of Liverpool in action during the Premier League International Cup game at AXA Melwood Training Centre
Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images

Amara Nallo pathway being cleared

Judging from what we saw in the summer friendlies, Van den Berg could comfortably have been part of the Liverpool squad this season.

However, Van den Berg wanted to go and with the Reds due for a big windfall, you can’t argue with them for cashing in.

Taking the Dutchman out of the picture, that now leaves Nat Phillips as Liverpool’s fifth-choice centre-back. But Phillips looks set to leave himself, meaning the 27-year-old cannot be counted upon.

As well as Phillips, there remains a possibility that fourth-choice central defender Joe Gomez departs Liverpool, too. It is chaos in the centre-back department.

READ MORE: All Liverpool loanees for the 2024/25 season and how they are getting on

Assuming for a moment that Gomez stays, however, and Liverpool may still need to call on their fifth-choice at some stage of the season. With so many games to play, that is hardly a big stretch.

With the transfer window open the hope remains that Liverpool will enter the market to bring in a new centre-back. But for the time being, there is absolutely nothing concrete to suggest that they will.

As a result, you have to start looking down into the academy for who is next in line. And when you do that, it’s obvious that Amara Nallo is the one who can step up.

Nallo was part of the squad Slot took to the USA this summer. He also made the bench for the pre-season friendly win over Sevilla. The 17-year-old is clearly on the radar.

How good is Amara Nallo?

Liverpool have shown over the past few years that if they bring in young talent from outside the club, they do so with the view of them making it in the first-team.

Trey Nyoni is the latest example of this and having arrived from West Ham at the same time Nyoni came from Leicester, Nallo falls into that category, too.

Nallo has been described as ‘excellent‘ by U21s coach Barry Lewtas and the teenager was already playing well ahead of his age group last season.

With a sudden opening at centre-back, it doesn’t feel too much of a leap to say that Nallo has been earmarked for potential first-team involvement this term.

Of course, Liverpool could block that pathway very quickly with a new signing or two, which could still happen. But, for the moment, the signs are looking good for Nallo to get his chance.