EXTRAORDINARY forward is coming for Liverpool first-team | OneFootball

Liverpool have made significant changes to their forward lineup, but there's plenty more to come.

Both strikers have been 'replaced' in Darwin Nunez who joined Al-Hilal and Diogo Jota who sadly passed away, with Hugo Ekitike and Alexander Isak joining to feature in their place. Furthermore, Luis Diaz was sold to Bayern Munich and Rio Ngumoha was promoted from the academy to replace him.

🔴 Shop the LFC 2025/26 adidas home range

🚨2025/26 LFC x adidas range🚨

LFC x adidas

Shop the home range today!

LFC x adidas

Shop the goalkeeper range today

LFC x adidas Third Kit

Shop the third kit range today!

That's a lot of change inside one transfer window, but now that recruitment is on hold until at least January, the other young players at the club in the youth teams will fancy their chances at impressing Arne Slot and getting a golden chance to make their mark in the senior set-up.

🔴 Shop the LFC 2025/26 adidas away range

One of which is Trent Kone-Doherty, who shone for the Republic of Ireland this past week.

Promising debut for U21s

While the international break might stereotypically be known for senior players going out to feature for their countries, most sides have youth teams, so Liverpool's youngsters also end up on duty.

For 19-year-old Kone-Doherty, this week was his debut for Ireland's under-21 side in a match against Andorra's U21s, where he assisted the decisive goal to secure a 1-0 win in a would-be stalemate.

At the end of the match, he spoke to RTE about his delight to make a difference in the game and imprint himself on the team so early into his international career with Ireland.

He said: "We've been training hard all week and we obviously got good minutes today, so we just wanted to try and show that we can be part of the team for the rest of the campaign because there's still a long way to do.

"Obviously the coach will make his decisions, so if I'm not playing then when I come on, I'm just going to try and make an impact, and obviously we got the win today and me and Michael [Noonan] made an impact."

On training with Arne Slot's senior team at Liverpool, he added: "Some of the best players in the world [play there] so anytime I get to train or if the manager trusts me to get minutes, I'll believe in myself and obviously it's the best team in the world, so [I] can't complain."

His mentality is one that will stand him in good stead over the next few years, trying to be extremely positive and relishing every opportunity he gets. For a player of his inexperience, he's really mature.

In addition, both his club and country know that he can be a difference-maker and if Liverpool or Ireland find themselves in a period of strife with their first-teams, the 19-year-old is able to help out.

Senior minutes are unlikely to be coming his way for the next few years, while he continues to develop his game, but if someone takes a punt on him in the meantime, then he'll make it count.

Behind Isak and Ekitike is a wealth of options, not least Kone-Doherty, but also Jayden Danns, Will Wright and others at the precipice of their careers. The Reds are truly blessed with attacking talents.