Liverpool fans urge Arne Slot to start 'extraordinary' youngster vs Arsenal after Real Betis performance

Liverpool made a winning start to their pre-season schedule and one talented youngster caught the eye in Arne Slot's first match as head coach.

Liverpool beat Real Betis 1-0 at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai scoring the only goal of the game.

The Reds struggled to find their rhythm during the first half, with Wataru Endo's poor performance coming under particular scrutiny.

But the Premier League side improved after the break following a series of tactical and personnel changes from Slot.

Fans were particularly impressed with the performance of 17-year-old midfielder Trey Nyoni, who was introduced on the half hour mark following an injury to Curtis Jones.

Nyoni was tidy in possession and made a number of positive balls forward, setting up several attacks for the Reds.

Fans were quick to praise the youngster after the game, with some calling for him to start Liverpool's next pre-season friendly against Arsenal on Thursday.

"Baller! He has a bright future," one fan posted on X.

Another added: "Always looking to start something and go forward with the ball, ceiling so f***ing high man, I'm so excited for him."

A third wrote: "Trey Nyoni was extraordinary, he deserves more time in the pitch."

"Play Nyoni against Arsenal and he'll reconsider his career path," added a fourth supporter.

While another posted: "If Nyoni plays like that against United and Arsenal in the next 2 preseason games then I'd put him above Jones & Grav [Ryan Gravenberch] in the pecking order.

"What do they offer that he doesn't? He's 1000 times more positive in his passing, plays one touch football & doesn't carelessly lose the ball."

Nyoni created history last season when making his senior debut for Liverpool in a 3-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup.

Aged just 16 years and 243 days at the time, he became the youngest FA Cup player in Liverpool's history and the third-youngest in any competition when he replaced Harvey Elliott 12 minutes from time.

Main takeaway from today’s match was how impressive 17-year old Trey Nyoni was.

Here’s a look at his performance against @RealBetis. Liverpool’s next big thing in action!

🎬: @zaki10ii https://t.co/wqtSwa6jBE

— LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) July 27, 2024

But speaking after the win over Betis, Slot suggested he would not rush Nyoni into competitive first-team action.

"I think he did really well today but it was only an hour," said Slot.

"Like I said, he did well. He was one of the reasons why we scored the goal, because he turned really quickly and [played] a spot-on pass in between the lines. And he was also involved in the biggest chance in the second half. So he did well.

"But he's just turned 17 and his body has to grow, and we are really careful with him. So he doesn't join every session and sometimes he goes out a bit earlier because he only turned 17 and you can see his quality but you can also see his body still needs some time to grow to play at Premier League level.

"But he showed some interesting things today."

After facing Arsenal next week, Liverpool will take on rivals Manchester United and Sevilla in further warm-up matches before playing their opening Premier League game against Ipswich on August 17.