Arne Slot includes ‘standout’ Liverpool academy gem in first-team training ahead of Inter clash | OneFootball

The Liverpool first-team squad were put through their paces at the AXA Training Centre on Monday morning prior to flying out to Italy for their Champions League clash against Inter Milan tomorrow night.

Mo Salah was a notable inclusion among the players who partook in the session, with the Egyptian involved despite his public swipe at Arne Slot and the club following the 3-3 draw at Leeds on Saturday, in which he played no part as he was an unused substitute.

Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa would appear to be doubtful for Tuesday’s match at the San Siro as they didn’t appear in Kirkby this morning, but there was an appearance from a prominent academy starlet.

Wellity Lucky trains with Liverpool first team

As noted by Lewis Bower – who provides independent coverage of Liverpool’s underage teams – on X, Wellity Lucky trained with the Reds’ first team today ahead of the clash against Inter.

The reporter described the teenage centre-back as ‘probably the standout defender in the academy so far this season’, adding that the 19-year-old has been called up by both Spain and England at youth level (he was born in Zaragoza and his family moved to the UK when he was 11).

(Photo by Jess Hornby/Getty Images)

Lucky has been outstanding for Liverpool at underage level

Amid all the understandable focus on Salah’s involvement in the session, it was quite pleasing to see Lucky being called upon to train with the first team on Monday.

The young defender made his senior debut for Liverpool off the bench in the Carabao Cup loss to Crystal Palace in October, and he was outstanding for the Reds’ under-19s when they beat their PSV Eindhoven counterparts in the UEFA Youth League 12 days ago.

It seems highly unlikely that he’ll play against Inter in the Champions League tomorrow, given his inexperience and that the academy side have a Youth League fixture against the Nerazzurri youngsters, but Slot is demonstrably aware of how well the teenager has been performing.

Problems at centre-back have been among the foremost themes of LFC’s dismal season, with only three senior options avaiable to the head coach and one of those (Ibrahima Konate) enduring yet another error-strewn outing against Leeds on Saturday.

Realistically, Lucky isn’t quite ready to challenge for a first-team start just yet, although he could plausibly be selected for Liverpool in the FA Cup third round next month, depending on who we’re playing against (the draw for that stage of the competition takes place this evening).

Over the next few months, hopefully we’ll see the prodigious youngster push for more frequent senior inclusion, especially if the Reds continue to struggle at the back.