If some Liverpool supporters were unconcerned about the club’s midfield options going into this season, there won’t be many remaining now who aren’t at least a little worried about the future. Many of the performances this season have left a lot to be desired, several of Jurgen Klopp’s options are well in to their thirties and others will be out of contract at the end of the campaign.
Add in that the Arthur Melo experiment looks unlikely to succeed ( as the on-loan Brazilian will be out for several months having only played 13 minutes) and the picture looks gloomy for 2022/23 and beyond. Whether the Reds can secure Jude Bellingham next summer or not remains to be seen. Further midfield reinforcements will be required either way.
While he won’t be able nor expected to resolve all of the issues single-handedly, Tyler Morton is starting to show that he can at least be an option for the Liverpool squad next season. He is spending this season with Blackburn Rovers and his performances for them are making people sit up and take notice.
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Not least those who determine the Championship’s team of the week, as they included Morton in their XI following his efforts in Rovers’ 3-0 win over Rotherham on Saturday. His manager for the season, Jon Dahl Tomasson, was effusive in his praise when speaking about it in a video Blackburn recently shared on social media.
“He’s a great player, class player,” said Tomasson. “He was one of the best midfield players regarding regains, winning the ball,” the former Milan forward added. The statistics bear this out, with Morton’s average of 0.8 possession wins in the final third per 90 minutes the joint-best among the Blackburn squad ( per Fotmob ). While this places him just outside the top 50 for the Championship, only five of the men above him in the standings also regain possession more frequently than him in the middle third of the field.
Tomasson continued: “What he can do, he sees the game, he can play passes in behind.” There was ample evidence of this against Rotherham, when Morton completed 10 progressive passes.
As the chart in the above tweet shows, the 19-year-old sprayed some excellent passes out to the flanks, in a style very reminiscent of how Liverpool like to play. Among central midfielders in the Championship, only Oliver Norwood and Marcelino Nunez are averaging a greater number of completed long balls per 90 this season ( per WhoScored ). Even more impressively, no teenager in any position is ahead of Morton.
The Liverpool youngster holds a similar standing in terms of creating goal scoring opportunities for his team-mates. He played four key passes against Rotherham, just as he had against Bristol City and Watford earlier in the campaign. Overall, nobody aged under 20 with at least 225 minutes played is creating more chances per 90, and no player of any age is doing so when starting in central midfield either.
“You can see he’s been in a good school, the Liverpool school, the Jurgen Klopp school,” said Tomasson, and Morton has previously spoken of how grateful he is to the Reds’ manager for giving him a chance. "I couldn't be more thankful to Jurgen for what he's done for me. He's trusted me in big games. Honestly, he's been unbelievable with me,” Morton said in February.
Klopp did indeed utilise the young midfielder in important matches, including him in the starting XI against Porto, AC Milan and Tottenham (as well as versus three other sides). If he was willing to do that then there’s no reason to think he won’t give Morton a chance next season.
His form for Blackburn means he looks ready for a place in the squad at the very least. The same was true of Harvey Elliott two seasons ago and Morton may be ready to follow in his predecessor's footsteps in 2023/24.
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