One man who left Liverpool last year has rediscovered his ‘love for football’ since Anfield exit | OneFootball

Nearly a year on from leaving Liverpool for good, Tyler Morton has spoken about how he’s rediscovered his ‘love for football’ at Lyon.

The midfielder joined the Ligue 1 club in a €10m (£8.7m transfer) eight months ago and has enjoyed regular game-time under Paulo Fonseca, with his tally of 38 appearances almost thrice the total he managed for the Reds’ first team (14).

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The 23-year-old previously spoke about not feeling trusted by Arne Slot at Anfield last season, and his latest remarks also appear to have had an undercurrent of ‘look at me now’ towards the beleaguered LFC head coach.

Morton has rediscovered his ‘love for football’ since Liverpool exit

In an interview with BBC Sport, Morton said: “I was so hungry to play again and find my love for football again. It’s really difficult when you don’t play. It’s so tough. You don’t get to show everyone how good you are. I’d never been more hungry to play football in my life.”

On playing at Lyon, the Wallasey native reflected: “The manager has given me the reins to play my football and I’m loving it. There’s no better position than number six, getting on the ball constantly, finding passes between the lines and using my brain to dictate games. Paulo Fonseca’s an incredible manager. He’s helped me so much. I’ve discovered things I didn’t even know I had as a footballer.”

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Morton’s rise has coincided with Liverpool’s fall

With respect to Slot, Jurgen Klopp also confined Morton to sporadic usage, with just 10 Liverpool appearances under the German as he was loaned out to Blackburn and Hull.

However, it was his final year at Anfield that the midfielder described as his ‘toughest’ mentally and admitted to feeling ‘hurt’ at having such a peripheral role under the current Reds boss, who played him only in domestic cup competitions.

Whereas the 23-year-old has taken flight at Lyon, his former club have endured a catastrophic season since his permanent exit, and that must only serve to underline his conviction that he made the right career choice.

It’s a shame that Liverpool no longer have Morton to call upon, but Slot’s reluctance to trust in players he doesn’t view as first-team starters (Federico Chiesa, Jarell Quansah, Harvey Elliott) suggests that he probably wouldn’t have played much at Anfield this term even with other midfielders regressing.

While it’s nice to see the Scouser fulfilling his potential and rediscovering his ‘love for football’, Reds fans must be rapidly losing theirs as this dreadful campaign meanders from one low point to another.