Liverpool have gruelling plan in place for quartet ahead of fixture pile up

Harvey Elliott; Rhian Brewster; Nico Williams TEAMtalk

Liverpool will reportedly make special arrangements to fly a number of young players involved in their upcoming Carabao Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa out to Qatar in time for the climax of the Fifa Club World Cup.

The Reds have confirmed a 23-man squad for the tournament in the Middle East, with the inclusion of Harvey Elliott, Rhian Brewster, Curtis Jones and Neco Williams coming as a bit of a surprise.

The academy quartet were expected to miss out on the trip to the Middle East as a result of Liverpool agreeing to play twice in less than 24 hours later this month in order to help ease their fixture congestion.

However, the Evening Standard reports that all four players are likely to feature when Under-23s boss Neil Critchley takes charge of a youthful side at Villa Park, with provisions being made to then fly them to Qatar.

The report adds that Klopp is keen to involve the youngsters who have been a regular feature at Melwood this season in what would be a significant success for the club.

Liverpool are expected to make history at Villa Park by naming the youngest starting XI in the club’s history.

The previous record was set by Klopp when he named a team with an average age of 21 years and 296 days against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup in 2017.

But with no senior stars set to be involved at Villa, that benchmark will almost certainly be smashed.

Meanwhile, Thierry Henry has said that Divock Orgi can be a “weapon” for Liverpool up front if he becomes comfortable playing through the middle of the front three.

 

Origi was in fine form as the Reds won 5-2 against Everton on Wednesday, scoring twice in a blistering first-half performance having been brought in to replace Roberto Firmino.

Belgian international Origi has had a habit of delivering in big games having scored in the Champions League semi-finals and final last season, as well as winning the Merseyside Derby for Liverpool.

Most of his good work has come from the wing, however, and speaking on Amazon Prime‘s coverage of Wednesday’s clash, Henry explained how Origi could be a serious asset to Jurgen Klopp through the middle. Read more…