In association with Goal light Football zone regularly out young players who can go far in the future or who are already earning their spurs in (inter)national top football. This time the focus is on nineteen-year-old Tyler Morton, the Liverpool midfielder who, after five matches in the main squad, was preferred over a bank worth more than 46.5 million euros.
Virtually every team in the Premier League is currently plagued by player shortages. If the cause is not corona, then it is injury. Liverpool is no exception. Manager Jürgen Klopp certainly had to improvise for his starting eleven in the duel with Tottenham Hotspur on December 19 (2-2), especially in the midfield positions. Fabinho, Thiago Alcántara and Curtis Jones were missing because of the already known virus; Harvey Elliott and Jordan Henderson respectively were unavailable due to an ankle injury and a persistent cold.
The options left for Klopp: James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Takumi Minamino. The first two made it to the starting form, but the Ox and Minamino – together good for a purchase amount of 46.5 million euros – had to settle for a place on the couch. That in favor of a nineteen-year-old youth product of Liverpool, who until then had only had five duels in the main force to his name.
“Pretty impressive”, Klopp mentioned Tyler Morton’s rapid advance. The teenager joined the first selection of Liverpool in preparation for the current season, during the training camp in Austria. Morton impressed and was allowed to make his debut from Klopp in September, away from Norwich City in the EFL Cup (0-3). Then came a raid against Arsenal in the Premier League and 90 minutes against Preston North End (EFL Cup), FC Porto and AC Milan (Champions League), before his baptism of fire as a Premier League basic player. Both the press and the trainer were lyrical about the duel with the Italians.
“A teenager who has completed the youth academy and is in control of the midfield in San Siro. Deep bow,” tweeted analyst and Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher afterwards. Klopp had equally nice words for Morton: “It was a pleasure to watch the boy play. The football brain he showed was exceptional. If you are technically at that level – and he is – and you have such good orientation, you create enough time for the team to be able to do great things.”
Loved every minute , San siro is special ?? pic.twitter.com/H11NRrWR1c
— tylermorton (@tylermorton02) December 8, 2021
‘The football brain’: that is what characterizes Morton as a player and for which he is also praised. However, the stamp of playmaker does him short, as he himself stated last January in conversation with Goal. “I’m more of a box to box midfielder,” Morton explained. “I’m not just a playmaker, I like to think I can do a little bit of everything. I love tackles. People are always quite shocked when I put in a tackle, but I’ve often done that!”
The Reds knew Morton’s potential early on. At the age of seven he and his best friend Max Woltman (who made his debut in the Liverpool first team against Milan) were stolen from amateur club Greanleas FC from Wirral. Morton, like many of his ‘golden generation’, could reportedly also go to Manchester City, Manchester United or Everton, but the choice was never really one. The youngster grew up a fan of Liverpool, where he, his father and brother were season ticket holders.
Following in the footsteps of his idol Steven Gerrard, Morton passed through the Liverpool Academy without too much difficulty. In the last year, however, his career has really picked up speed. The English youth international started last season with the Under 18s, he was promoted to the Under 23s within a few months. The club rewarded that rapid development with a long-term professional contract, which Morton would keep in Merseyside until mid-2025. Just nine months after that milestone, it was already time for the next: his debut in the first team.
The youngster especially looks up to Thiago. “It’s impossible to take your eyes off him!” Morton says admiringly of his teammate. “Sometimes I catch myself trying to copy things from him: rolling the ball under my foot, no look passes, those kind of things. What a player!” In turn, Thiago seems impressed with Morton again. The Spanish international is according to sources of Goal ‘very pleased’ about the enormous potential that the teenager shows. Andy Edwards noticed that too: the England Under 20 national team let Morton make his debut against Portugal’s peers last November (2-0 loss).
So Tyler Morton broke Pereira’s leg, but why is Klopp not moaning on screen now? If Liverpool wins It doesn’t matter and if they lose It’s everyone else but their fault. ????
pic.twitter.com/wSNypLePom— Cotton (@JambaeSports) December 27, 2021
Morton is now on seven matches in the main squad of Liverpool, the last of which was on December 22 against Leicester City in the EFL Cup (3-3, 5-4 win on penalties). The midfielder started in that game in the starting line-up, but was removed to the side by trainer Klopp after 45 minutes of play. Morton was still mildly penalized with a yellow card for a rash tackle on Ricardo Pereira; Klopp wanted to prevent worse with a substitution.
It could be an incident, as Morton is described as ‘mature’ by many Liverpool youth coaches. “A model pro,” Under 23 coach Barry Lewtas even called him. If so, a definitive Liverpool 1 breakthrough seems only a matter of time. Although, according to Klopp, one more thing is needed for that. “To the gym now. Immediately!” said the German after the EFL Cup match with Preston North End.
You hear it, Tyler.