Jurgen Klopp was not giving anything away regarding the possibility of Tyler Morton making his Champions League debut against Porto, but he did say the teenager is a “really good example” of youth development.
The 19-year-old has enjoyed a season to remember so far, debuting for his boyhood club in the League Cup, Premier League and at Anfield, impressing at every stage.
The step up from the academy has looked almost seamless but Klopp pinpointed his debut at Norwich as the moment his “confidence level exploded,” allowing the manager to see the “real” Morton.
Firmly entrenched in first-team training, Morton’s development has been one of the successes of the campaign to date and how Liverpool have handled him has allowed for truly impactful moments of growth.
Klopp explained as such while being very coy on his lineup for Wednesday.
“I don’t know what will happen tomorrow night but the progress from Tyler Morton has been pretty impressive,” Klopp told reporters.
“Tyler had the full pre-season with us, you could see his technical skills but how well educated and how well behaved young people are.
“He was not overly confident, let me say it like that, he tried to adapt a little bit to what the first team were doing.
“It was good, not spectacular, but good and then we had the game against Norwich where he came on the second half and played a super game, to be honest, that made all the difference.
“You could see the next day how the confidence level exploded overnight and I saw for the first time – Pep [Lijnders] and Vitor [Matos] knew him before – the real Tyler Morton, 2021.
“Then he plays the Preston game, a really good performance, really mature and all these kind of things. That’s how development with young players work, it’s a really good example.
“We can speak a lot about these boys, we can let them train with us but let me say it like this.
“Bringing them on in a game in the right moment has the biggest impact from all the things you can do to help them, Tyler is a really good example of that.
“He is in a good place at the moment. Pretty sure he would give the same answer! Now, let’s work from here.”
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