The Liverpool winger who wowed coaches and teenage team-mate could now change the transfer plan

A consistent theme of Liverpool’s summer transfer speculation has been linking the wingers with a move to Anfield. From Leeds United’s Crysencio Summerville to Athletic Club’s Nico Williams and PSV Eindhoven’s Ibrahima Bakayoko, the Reds are reportedly looking for more quality in extended areas.

Federico Chiesa is another who has been linked while Liverpool were offered Anthony Gordon by Newcastle United last month as they seek to redress the imbalance of financial losses ahead of the June 30 deadline set by the Premier League around their profit rules and sustainability.

About the wings, everywhere you look, there is talk of a transfer to Liverpool this summer.

The Reds decided to pass on the offer to Gordon for two reasons. One being that they had no intention of including Jarell Quansah in Newcastle’s proposed deal, while the other was that they felt their options were plentiful in wide attacking areas, particularly on the left, where England international Gordon shone at St James. Park.

With Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez all capable of playing on the left, Liverpool’s stance made sense, even if there are question marks at the same level in depth on the right where Mohamed Salah’s absence is sometimes countered. by Harvey Elliott being taken wide.

Two players hoping such cash-in speculation will prove unfounded, however, will be Ben Doak and Kaide Gordon, who are desperate to start their senior careers on Merseyside under a brand new regime.

It was a rapid rise into the first-team set-up for Gordon following his move from Derby County in February 2021. In September of that year, he made his senior debut under Jurgen Klopp, featuring in a win at Norwich City in a successful League Cup campaign.

The winger was 16 years and 351 days old at the time, making him the fifth youngest player in the club’s history behind James Norris, Jack Robinson, Harvey Elliott and Jerome Sinclair. Derby were paid £100,000 after that debut thanks to clauses built into the terms, but Liverpool later tried to take advantage of a financially struggling Rams when they paid £500,000 to remove a sell-on clause from the contract.

Clearly believing his cap to be particularly high, Liverpool gambled on taking out the 20% sell-on terms, a much-needed boost for the Derby houses at the time, a season which had involved administration, a deduction of points and an extended period. the takeover saga.

Gordon started in a League Cup semi-final win at Arsenal to become the youngest in the club’s history ever to start a major semi-final and that came a month after he scored in a 4-1 win over to Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup. That equalizer on the day made him the second youngest ever goalscorer at Anfield and he made his Premier League debut as a substitute in an Anfield win against Brentford later that month. It’s an interesting resume that suggests a bright future if he can stay injury free.

“Wow, we’ve got a new player here,” Pep Lijnders says he told Klopp when he first saw the teenager from the youth ranks. “He has fire every time he touches the ball.”

However, since peaking at the start of 2022, Gordon has suffered a torrid spell with injury, sidelined for the better part of 18 months with a pelvic problem which has really hampered his development under Klopp, who has clear confidence in his young man.

“The thing that’s difficult with certain types of injuries, especially the younger guys coming up, they’re complicated,” U-21 boss Barry Lewtas told the ECHO last June.

“It’s not like when you break a bone, then the bone heals and you break. Some of these injuries are more complex, and unfortunately for Kaide, it was. It was related to his growth and Kaide is taller and bigger now than when he last played.”

Liverpool were keen to ensure Gordon remained involved with the senior squad, with the teenager traveling to Austria for the pre-season training tour in 2022 and later that year to Dubai for the mid-season warm weather camp during the break from the World Cup. .

Since then, it’s fair to say Gordon has eased his way back into the first-team picture. A start in a 2-1 defeat by Union Saint-Gilloise in the Europa League was given as the Reds already secured their place in the knockout stages and Klopp was adamant there would be no plans to loan the teenager out , believing his development was best served with his own club.

Substitute appearances in a 4-0 Premier League win at Bournemouth at the end of January and a 3-0 win against Southampton in the FA Cup followed, but there was still no appetite to push Gordon back into the deep end .

A strong showing in pre-season, at a time when Slot is without Nunez, Jota, Gakpo and Diaz, will go a long way towards the next phase of his stay at Anfield, which started superbly before that ‘complex’ failure of accident.

The same will apply to Doak, who is looking to get his own summer off to a good start after cutting his summer break short to focus on getting back to Liverpool as close to 100% as possible.

The Reds are “not taking any half measures” to get Scotland back into international form, according to a source, and the club have been privately praised for handling the former Celtic starlet’s concerns in recent months.

Doak spent time in Scotland last month, using the facilities at Valefield Park in Killbirnie under the guidance of Empire Performance, with one-on-one sessions and they were introduced alongside Liverpool-mandated work, with the right-back resuming a link-up. with childhood friend Dylan Reid, a midfielder learning his trade in Crystal Palace’s youth ranks

After his season effectively ended on U21 duty in December when he suffered MCL damage against Chelsea, another setback as he tried to make the case for Scotland’s inclusion in the European Championship was a cruel blow for the proud Glasgow man.

“He’s young, he’s a fit guy, he’s a positive guy, so he’s definitely going to come back stronger and we need him to come back with the same fire that he has with the ball as he has been,” Lijnders said in December . “He can take his time and we’ll wait for him.”

Back at the AXA Training Center for the opening days of pre-season training under Slot, Doak – like Gordon – is looking at something pretty clean this summer, and the coming weeks will give both real opportunities to prove themselves. what these transfer links are with the other flying wings must remain only speculation.