2K1GC2P Blackburn Rovers' Tyler Morton during the Sky Bet Championship match at Ewood Park, Blackburn. Picture date: Tuesday September 13, 2022.

Manager hails “class player” on loan from Liverpool – “One of the best”

Tyler Morton is emerging as the success story among Liverpool’s 17 loanees, with Blackburn boss Jon Dahl Tomasson hailing him as a “class player.”

There are currently 17 players out on loan from Liverpool this season, though only nine of those have been regular starters for their clubs so far.

Morton has cemented himself as a first-choice pick at Blackburn, with the 19-year-old starting eight of the last nine games for the Championship club, earning Man of the Match in his most recent outing.

A star turn at the base of the midfield in Saturday’s 3-0 win over Rotherham saw the teenager garner rave reviews, including from his manager.

Speaking to RoversTV ahead of a trip to Wigan on Tuesday night, Tomasson praised Morton as a “good mixture” of quality on the ball and hard work off it.

“He’s a great player, class player,” the Dane said.

“I spoke a couple weeks ago about his regains, he was one of the best midfield players regarding regains, winning the ball.

“We want to play possession football, we want to play it towards the goal, we don’t want to play possession [just] to play possession, not at all.

“What he can do, he sees the game, he can play passes in behind – but you also need players who run in behind before you can play those passes.

“He has a good mixture of class on the ball and also winning regains.

“You can see he’s been in a good school – the Liverpool school, the Jurgen Klopp school – you can see that.

“He’s enjoying life here at Rovers. I like to see the boy, because he’s getting important.”

2JNBJ5H Blackburn Rovers' Tyler Morton during the Carabao Cup, first round match at Ewood Park, Blackburn. Picture date: Wednesday August 10, 2022.

There will be a pride at Liverpool in the way Morton is performing at Blackburn, with there high hopes among Jurgen Klopp‘s staff after nine appearances for the first team last season.

The hope will be that Morton is able to step up to the senior squad on a permanent basis next term, as was the case for Harvey Elliott following his breakthrough loan spell with Blackburn in 2020/21.

He has spoken in the past of learning from Thiago on the training pitch, and there are comparisons to be made in their awareness in receiving possession and work rate in regaining it.

“The first time he came, I said ‘who is this player?’,” Thiago said in November last year, “because he was training amazing with us.”

It is a long road ahead for Morton still, but with Blackburn climbing the table as he continues to impress in the Championship, he finds himself in a strong position.