It's been a long road to this point for Kaide Gordon but the sight of him back in the Liverpool gym this week was hugely welcomed.
Gordon's injury nightmare dates back nearly 18 months and he has not featured in a team at any level since a 3-0 defeat for the Reds' Under-21s by Leeds United in the Premier League 2 on February 7 of 2022.
A pelvic problem linked to his physical growth has been the root cause of the long-standing issues, which Liverpool have carefully managed over much of the last year-and-a-half. After such a long spell on the sidelines there will be few expectations or demands placed on his young shoulders but his imminent return will be celebrated by those who have watched on sympathetically during that absence.
Gordon was back running at the club's AXA Training Centre in May and while no timescale has been placed on his return to a match-day squad yet, it was heartening to see him snapped alongside some of his more senior colleagues this week as he was put through his paces in the gym of the Kirkby base. He is at least pencilled in for a return to full training this month.
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It's unclear when Gordon will be cleared to make that long-awaited competitive comeback, one he - as an 18-year-old with senior experience, - must be absolutely itching to make, but whenever it comes, it will be a testament to his mental strength and the club's staff who had worked tirelessly to ensure the former Derby County youngster can rid himself of the problems.
"What is difficult with certain kind of injuries, especially with younger boys who are growing, they are complicated," U21 boss Barry Lewtas told the ECHO last month. "It's not like when you break a bone, then the bone heals and you crack on.
"Some of these injuries are more complex, and unfortunately for Kaide it has been that. It has been linked to his growth, and Kaide is taller and bigger now than when he last played.
"We always knew never to put a timeframe on it as we knew it could be a long one and we didn't want to set his hopes too high, and wanted to keep him in the right frame of mind as well.
"It's without raising expectations of anybody else as well, as he's a player who has already made an impact in the first team. He's been running around the pitch a little bit more, and we'll see how he goes."
At the club the size of Liverpool, who have a manager who is not shy of blooding young talent into the first team when the opportunity arises, the carrot dangled in front of Gordon to aid his recovery is a sizable one and his experience with the senior set-up must surely be an additional incentive the closer he gets back to full fitness.
A Carabao Cup win at Norwich City in September 2021 was the setting for Gordon's Liverpool debut, which came around nine months after his £1.5m move from Derby. Manchester United had also made attempts to sign him. The Reds later paid the cash-strapped Rams around £500,000 to have a 20% sell-on clause removed from the initial agreement.
But while his maiden run-out at Carrow Road provided a hint of his talents as fleet-footed winger, it was January 2022 when Gordon really made people sit up and take note by providing a composed finish against Shrewsbury Town to even up the score at Anfield in an FA Cup tie.
It was an effort that made the winger the youngest player to ever score a goal for Liverpool in the FA Cup at the age of 17 years and 96 days and the Reds went on to win the game 4-1.
“That’s Kaide,” said Jurgen Klopp after the game. "Finishing-wise, is really exceptional,” he said. “He is really calm more often than not. When you find him in the box he has a nose for that (kind of finish). I know he is the second youngest scorer for Liverpool, which is absolutely exceptional. But there is still much to improve. He has time and we will give him the time if he is working as hard as he is so far."
Further minutes in the domestic cups came the following month when he was handed a start against Arsenal in the second leg of a Carabao Cup semi-final at the Emirates. With Mohamed Salah still at the Africa Cup of Nations, the decision to start the teenager in place of the vaunted Egyptian was a huge show of faith from Klopp.
Gordon, perhaps, should have scored on the night when he blazed a great chance over the bar, but he did not let the team down as they secured a 2-0 win to book their place at Wembley. When the domestic double of 2022 is reflected on in years to come, his contribution should not be overlooked.
A first Premier League bow came shortly before that win in north London when he replaced Diogo Jota for the final eight minutes of a 3-0 win over Brentford at Anfield. "[A] dream come true making my Premier League debut for Liverpool today and happy we took the three points," he posted on social media after the game. It surely won't be the last of its kind.
“He is what you see a lot with these wingers but he has a goal in him and he has this natural ability to be in the box between the posts to score even when a cross comes from the opposite side," says assistant manager Pep Lijnders. "Not many talents have that. They maybe have dribbling skills but they don’t have that desire to shoot, to come in the box, to score.
"He is a typical Liverpool Football Club winger in my opinion because he has goals and he has speed. We really like him and really like that he is with us.”
That game at Arsenal marked Gordon's final senior appearance to date but as he closes in on a return to full fitness later this month, he can begin to get his exciting yet fledgling career back on track properly.
