Kaide Gordon returned to the pitch as a second-half substitute for Liverpool U21s against Benfica U21s on Sunday following the latest fitness issue he sustained last month.
The 19-year-old has suffered wretched luck with injuries across the last year and a half, amassing just 16 minutes of football since last February up until the weekend.
Gordon registered four senior appearances for the Reds in the 2021/22 season, but a series of growth-related injuries have since hampered his progress after making a promising start to his career.
A fresh ankle issue had kept him out of action again since making his long-awaited return to football for the U21s against Middlesborough.
His next appearance came when he was introduced with 65 minutes of Sunday’s Premier League International Cup clash at Kirkby on the clock as the youngsters picked up a 1-1 draw with Benfica.
Speaking after the game, U21 boss Barry Lewtas detailed the nature of Gordon’s more recent injury and revealed that the forward was keen to play the entirety of the contest.
“That’s a big thing for us as well as Kaide,” Lewtas told the club’s official website in discussing the teenager’s latest return to the field.
“He has had a little bit of a niggle really, an ankle roll, a football injury, so he was itching to get back.
“He wanted to play 90 minutes but we’ve just got to be careful. I thought he looked strong, he was aggressive, and the more game time we can get him, the better.”
The return to the Europa League for the first time since 2016 has afforded Jurgen Klopp the opportunity to share minutes around his first-team squad, something which a number of fringe players have benefitted from in recent weeks.
Gordon will be eager to ramp up his recovery progress in a bid to put himself in contention for his first senior minutes since starting the League Cup semi-final against Arsenal in January 2021.
The youngster was included in the Reds’ extended squad on List B for the group stages of this season’s Europa League, highlighting the club’s faith that he could play a part at some point later in the campaign.
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