Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has praised teenager Trey Nyoni after his appearance against Southampton on Wednesday night.
Liverpool are into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup after beating Southampton 3-0 at Anfield.
The Championship side looked dangerous in the first half but a goal from Lewis Koumas allowed the Reds to take control.
Substitute Jayden Danns then came off the bench to add a brace, with his first goal a beautiful dink into the net.
Danns celebrated in front of the Kop, no doubt a lifelong dream for a boyhood Reds fan.
Jurgen Klopp on Trey Nyoni
With two teenagers on the scoresheet, it may have been easy to gloss over the appearance of 16-year-old Trey Nyoni.
The summer signing from Leicester City has trained around the first team this season but was handed a debut off the bench on Wednesday night.
That makes Nyoni the youngest ever player to feature for Liverpool in the FA Cup.
Nyoni is being backed for a huge future and Jurgen Klopp has now made sure that his debut receives the recognition it deserves.
Speaking to ITV, Klopp noted that people must not forget about Nyoni coming on, before remarking ‘what a player he is!’.
Klopp felt that Liverpool turned in a ‘top, top, top’ performance to beat Southampton and was seemingly delighted that Nyoni played some part in it.
“We don’t take these things for granted, it was super difficult tonight so we deserved to go through obviously, it was a top performance from a specific moment on, it was top, top, top, I loved it a lot,” said Klopp. “We should not forget that Trey came on as well – what a player he is! Oh my God,” he added.
The last few days have been all about Liverpool’s young talents and, whilst Danns has grabbed all the attention with his brace, Nyoni’s debut was a big moment too.
We will surely see plenty more of Nyoni in the years to come, especially after such a resounding verdict from Klopp.
Klopp may not be the manager to ultimately see the best of Nyoni, but he has played a key part in his career by handing him his debut – and he will surely keep close tabs on Nyoni even after leaving the Anfield dugout.