Midfielder confirms he's READY to join Liverpool first-team | OneFootball

One of them is Vitezslav Jaros, who is a very impressive goalkeeper and who could replace Alisson Becker as the club's first choice one day.

The other is James McConnell, who is a young midfielder very much admired by Arne Slot, and who was regularly on the head-coach's radar last season.

But while Jaros has had a very impressive start to the campaign and has instantly slotted in to become Ajax's no.1 goalkeeper, McConnell has had to bide his time.

He arrived at Ajax, still not 100% match fit and also picked up a small niggle, which has ultimately led to his first start for the team coming on Wednesday night in the Champions League.

After an impressive cameo in the Eredivisie, McConnell was given his moment to shine against Chelsea. Former Liverpool assistant, Johnny Heitinga opted to start him in Ajax's key Champions League encounter at Stamford Bridge.

It would prove to be a difficult game for Ajax, who went down to 10-men very early on and lost 5-1 to a much better Chelsea side.

But one of the silver linings from the game will have been the performance of McConnell. He was very active and didn't look out of place coming up against a midfield of Enzo Fernandes and Romeo Lavia.

McConnell played 79 minutes in total, winning four out of his seven duels, making six clearances and two recoveries while completing 87% of his passes (14/15).

Now while his side didn't have a lot of the ball, McConnell's defensive qualities definitely shone through in this game.

Comparing this performance to Alexis Mac Allister's performance against Chelsea, who also won four out of seven duels and completed 75% (27/35) of his passes, McConnell's showing was not too dissimilar.

It's a performance in the Champions League that confirms that McConnell is absolutely good enough to play for the club's first-team and he'll be ready to join when his loan is over.

He's one to keep a close eye on.