Arne Slot has been accused of failing to utilise the promising young players at his disposal since his arrival at Liverpool.
Reds fans had become used to Jurgen Klopp’s habit of throwing the odd talent in here and there and had expected that to continue under Slot.
Although that has yet to happen, there are signs that the Liverpool head coach is prepared to change in that respect.
The Reds last five Premier League results have Arne Slot under pressure. Should a loss at Leeds see him sacked?
One has come ahead of Saturday’s trip to play Leeds United, where Slot is under pressure to get a result. His job could be on the line if Liverpool fail to win again.
As he assesses the best way to use his team during their visit to West Yorkshire, promising winger Kaide Gordon has been spotted training with the first-team.
Kaide Gordon trains ahead of Leeds vs Liverpool
Gordon has had a difficult few years with Liverpool since bursting onto the scene in 2022. It is now almost four years since he scored a brilliant FA Cup goal against Shrewsbury at Anfield.
Virgil van Dijk has labelled Gordon as a ‘special talent‘ and the late Diogo Jota was effusive in his praise of the youngster as well.
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However, injuries have gripped Gordon limiting him to only eight Liverpool appearances in total.
One of those came during October’s Carabao Cup defeat against Crystal Palace, when he made a 23-minute cameo off the bench.
While it was not a good day at the office for the 21-year-old or his teammates, it did at least show that he is on Slot’s radar.
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That has been underlined with Gordon now being seen taking part in full training during LFCTV’s ‘Inside Training’ video, released on Friday. Slot does not offer these invitations out lightly, and it is fantastic to see Gordon back in the picture.
Calvin Ramsay also spotted in first-team training
Any time outside of pre-season, Slot has been very reluctant to have young players amongst his day-to-day group of senior stars.
Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni are the exceptions to that, with both teenagers now fully established, permanent members of the group. As a result, Gordon’s involvement should be seen as vaguely significant.
But the forward was not the only player from the Liverpool academy training with the seniors on Friday. Right-back Calvin Ramsay was also spotted being put through his paces.
Like Gordon, Ramsay’s Liverpool career has been wrecked by injury. But the Scotsman was also given a chance during the Crystal Palace loss and looked like he deserved more opportunities.
Given that Conor Bradley was seen training without problems, it seems unlikely that Ramsay will be involved at Elland Road on Saturday, but it is great to see him making these steps nevertheless.
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