Jurgen Klopp just can’t get enough of the quality of the new ‘kids’ at his disposal at Liverpool and gave a senior debut to teenage midfielder Trey Nyoni in the 3-0 battering of Southampton – a game where the Reds displayed the might of their youth system.
The game against Southampton was particularly impressive as seven of the starting XI players were all Liverpool academy graduates. Substitute Jayden Danns stole the show with a brilliant second-half brace to empower the 3-0 win, but another young player Trey Nyoni managed to set a club record in the game.
At the age of just under 16 years and 243 days, Nyoni has now become the youngest-ever player to play for Liverpool in an FA Cup game in history. He came on to replace Harvey Elliott in the 78th minute, enjoying a sharp outing in the final bits of the game.
To give an example of how young he is, Nyoni was born on June 30, 2007 – only four days before Fernando Torres joined the Reds and went on to score 81 goals for the club.
Nyoni is not a ‘Scouser’ as his parents hail from Africa, South Africa to be specific. The youngster came through the system at Leicester City, spending 10 years with the club’s youth system before being signed the Reds in 2023.
Nyoni is described as “A No 8 with beautiful balance, two good feet and the ability to beat his marker on either side,” and has mostly played in centre-midfield or attacking midfield roles in his career – despite occasionally playing as a winger for Liverpool youth teams too.
With the Reds being a club that manages its wage bill system relatively well, they obviously won’t want to dish out big money to youth team players.
Nyoni is estimated to be earning a meagre £60-a-week wages because of his youth contract with the Reds. His current contract with the Reds is poised to expire in June 2027, but, of course, the 16-year-old could bag a much bigger pay once he signs a pro deal with the senior team in the near future.
Despite not being the tallest, being just over 5’9’, Nyoni has made quite the impression with his silky movement, distribution ability and dribbling techniques at the youth level. After making 15 appearances for the Leicester City under-18s, he was signed by Liverpool last year and made an instant impact for the Reds U-18 team, scoring three goals in his first Premier League U18 matches.
Nyoni earned praise after scoring his third goal for Liverpool U18s against Sunderland U18s with former Liverpool Women’s star Natasha Dowie praising his effort and saying: “I can’t say enough about this player to be honest. I see him in training, he’s just different class, he really is. Everything he does he makes looks so easy and that finish is not easy. That’s a half-volley hit so cleanly.”
The 16-year-old’s performances in training and youth games were so impressive that Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk took a personal interest in giving him tips.
Former players turned youth coach at Liverpool, Jay Spearing recalls a private chat that happened between the two, revealing: “Virgil came up to him and congratulated him on training with them. He said, ‘He’s got a lot more to come’ and he really liked him. Virgil also came out to watch the U-18s against Middlesbrough to see how Trey was playing.”
Even though his parents hail from Zimbabwe, Nyoni has represented England in the international scene at the youth stages – making his England U-17 debut last year. He can, although, also represent the Zimbabwe national team thanks to his parents’ roots in the country if he aspires to later on in his career.
Nyoni made his senior debut for the Reds by wearing the unconventional no. 98 shirt – a number he has incidentally also worn for the under-21 and under-18 sides. However, Nyoni has more recently been donning the no.8 and no.10 shirt numbers for Liverpool U21s and no.10 for the U18s. The 16-year-old actually only signed a youth contract with the Reds upon joining them last year and is only going to be able to sign a professional deal once he turns 18.
Despite his age, Nyoni has already won over multiple coaches and dazzled Jurgen Klopp with his performance against Southampton too.
The German gaffer was full of praise for the record-setter after the Southampton clash and said: “We don’t take these things for granted, it was super difficult tonight so we deserved to go through obviously, it was a top performance from a specific moment on, it was top, top, top, I loved it a lot. We should not forget that Trey came on as well – what a player he is! Oh my God.”
Well, it appears that Nyoni definitely has the talent to become a regular for the Liverpool team in the near future after making an impressive debut at such a young age. He will also, of course, be hoping that EA puts up his card in FC 24 as he is among the Liverpool youngsters yet to be added to the game.
The 16-year-old is likely to be regularly playing for the U21 and U18 sides this season, but going by the glowing remarks of Klopp & co – it won’t be surprising if he becomes a permanent member of the first-team squad in the ‘new era’ next season.
