England-born Zimbabwean teenage sensation Trey Nyoni captured the imagination of Liverpool supporters with his display in the Reds’1-0 friendly win over Real Betis, earning praise from the clubs new manager Arne Slot and his teammates.
Liverpool began their pre-season tour of the United States with a victory over LaLiga opposition, with Dominik Szoboszlai scoring the only goal of the game in Pittsburgh.
It was a productive first runout under Slot, even without many of his most important players, with positive signs for the new Premier League season ahead.
One of the standouts was Nyoni, the 17-year-old England-born Zimbabwean who replaced the injured Curtis Jones after half an hour, excelling as one of the deeper midfielders and playing a role in Szoboszlai’s goal.
His performance earned plaudits from the head coach, players and fans alike.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Slot was both effusive in his praise for Nyoni and cautious in his views on the midfielder’s development:
“I think he did really well today, but it was only an hour.
“He did well, he was one of the reasons why we scored the goal, because he turned really quickly and [played a] spot on pass between the lines, and he was also involved in the biggest chance of the second half,” Slot said.
“So he did well, but he just turned 17, his body has to grow – and we are really careful with him, so he doesn’t join every session, and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier.
“You can see his quality, but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow to play a Premier League level. But he showed some interesting things today.”
And in an interview with LFCTV, the Liverpool head coach expanded further:
“I think this started off with a player that came in that speeded up the game for us a lot.
“He found these players in between the lines a lot of times, and I think that’s the quality we need in those No. 6 positions, to find players like him.
“I said [in the pre-match press conference] I’m not going to name any youngsters that caught my eye, but if you see that he comes in after 30 minutes for Curtis, you could expect that I meant him!
“He did really well today, I think he just turned 17, so his body is not grown yet, he needs some time to get stronger and hopefully he will be a bit taller as well.”
Speaking to LFCTV after the game, Szoboszlai made it clear that the senior players in Liverpool’s squad are similarly impressed.
“For sure [he has a massive future]. I like him a lot, he’s a really offensive player,” the Hungarian said.
“I just said on the bench to Quansah, you can’t even foul him, because he’s just so [quick], his movements and stuff.”
On Nyoni’s role in the buildup to his goal, Szoboszlai said: “It was a good pass from Trey, it’s important that the sixes see us and use us also.”