Jurgen Klopp Says Young Liverpool Midfielder Needs Help Getting A Body For Football

Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on Liverpool FC’s teenage midfielder Tyler Morton after his side’s 2-0 win over Preston in the League Cup on Wednesday.

Morton, who made his first-ever start for the Liverpool first team, now has made two appearances for the side, with the first one coming against Norwich earlier this season in the same competition.

Hailing the 18-year-old midfielder, Klopp called Tyler a “real smart footballer” before adding the young England national needs to get a body for soccer.

“Tyler is obviously a real talent, a real smart footballer. You can see this. His natural movements, natural positions, are really good, so he is a real football-smart boy and the technique is really good. Now we have to make sure we help him with getting a body for football – he is not too small and not too skinny, but there is still a little bit to come and we have to make him ready for all that. It was a very positive impact again tonight,” Klopp told Liverpool’s official website after his side’s comfortable win over Preston.

Born in Wallasey, Morton is an all-action midfielder, who signed a new long-term contract with Liverpool earlier this year. He has been with the Reds’ youth academy since the age of seven and he made his Under-23s debut in the 2020-21 campaign. Morton scored 10 goals for the Under-18s and Under-23s in the 2020-21 campaign and played a key role as the young Reds reached the FA Youth Cup final. Unfortunately, Liverpool lost to Aston Villa 2-1 in the final.

Meanwhile, Klopp also praised Takumi Minamino, who scored in Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Preston, with Divock Origi being the other scorer.

"Taki is high quality. Taki's problem is… actually, there is no problem apart from the other players in his positions are really good and thank God for us they are not injured. That's it. Taki is absolutely fine, Taki is in an outstanding moment, training-wise much better than he showed tonight but he was the most dangerous player and scores a goal, which is really important. He understands our game as well really well, so you can throw him in and he can be immediately a massive part of our football. Tonight he was, obviously. Taki was good, but we all know he can be even much better," added Klopp.