Richard Hughes’ bold summer transfer decision about an ‘incredible’ Liverpool midfielder could end up becoming a masterstroke.
Liverpool’s sporting director has come under a lot of scrutiny this summer for the club’s lack of activity in the market.
In the end, Liverpool brought in just one signing this summer in the form of Federico Chiesa, while Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to join the club from Valencia next summer.
Both additions are exciting. However, there is no denying Liverpool will have concerns about their no.6 depth, after having failed to land Martin Zubimendi.
However, Hughes’ decision to not pursue an alternative while albeit bold, could end up saving millions for the Reds, and become a masterstroke.
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Why Liverpool have decided to keep Tyler Morton
It is now likely that Morton, who featured in pre -season, will stay at the club.
Tyler Morton was one of the players who was heavily linked with a move away from Liverpool all summer. The England U21 international has caught the eye while out on loan at Blackburn Rovers and Hull City over the past two seasons.
He also featured in pre-season under Arne Slot and was the subject of interest from Bayer Leverkusen towards the end of the window.
But Liverpool have opted to keep Morton and reject any advances in view of the club’s lack of depth in the no.6 department.
That decision will not be a popular one among Liverpool supporters but it’s a golden opportunity for Morton to prove himself.
Last season we saw Jarell Quansah step-up when the Reds opted not to recruit a defender and he ultimately proved that decision right.
Now it will be Morton’s turn, who has been very highly rated for some time now.
Klopp waxed lyrical about him when the young midfielder started in a Champions League game against AC Milan at the San Siro.
“It was a big pleasure to watch the boy playing,” Klopp said in his post-match press conference at the time.
“The football knowledge, the football brain he showed tonight, was absolutely exceptional.
“If you are technically on that level – and he obviously is – and you then have such good orientation, then sometimes we have enough time to do good stuff.”
Later, he also described Morton as ‘incredible’ while in pre-season back in the summer of 2022.
“By the way, Tyler Morton, in training, incredible!
“He plays as a no.8 now, we don’t force him to play as a controlling no.6 in a Premier League game [like v Spurs].
“He’s training as an eight, and it’s like ‘wow, how good is that?!’ He’s still here.”
Morton has all the traits to thrive under Slot
Tyler Morton – Pro Shots.
Morton may not have suited the no.6 role under Klopp but under Slot that could be a different story.
In Slot’s system, the no.6 is often supported in a double pivot and the emphasis is more on utilising the respective players’ ball-playing abilities in the role.
This would bring out Morton’s best qualities.
Last season experts at the CIES Football Observatory named the England U21 star as one of the top 100 midfielders for ball retention under pressure in world football.
Out of the 100 players, Morton was the third youngest on the list. Behind only Gavi of Barcelona and Warren Zaire-Emery of PSG.
He had ‘ball retention under high pressure’ rate of 86.9%, which made him the best in the metric out of all of Liverpool’s players last season.
There are no questions Morton will need to improve physically. However, the potential is there and he could now prove Hughes’ decision right by emulating Quansah’s breakthrough into the Liverpool first team from last season.
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