Surprise wonderkid now set to make Liverpool debut vs Wolves | OneFootball

A surprise talent could make his debut against Wolverhampton for Liverpool.

It's fair to say that Arne Slot's squad is stretched very thin at the moment. Liverpool are in the midst of an injury crisis, and already having a small squad has only compounded Slot's problems.

The club's depth is especially weak with Slot's decision to deploy a new diamond system that requires pretty much all of his first-team midfielders to be playing at the same time, with the exception of Wataru Endo, who is injured anyway.

Now this is complicated by the fact that Dominik Szoboszlai is suspended against Wolverhampton after he picked up a yellow card against Tottenham, which was his fifth of the season.

This means Liverpool are going to have to come up with some sort of way of replacing the Hungarian in the side, which won't be easy given Slot has just 12 first-team outfield players available for this game, one of whom is Calvin Ramsay, who has very little experience at senior level for the Reds.

Ibrahima Konate missed the training session leading up to the game, and it remains to be seen if he will be available.

Trey Nyoni could be an obvious option. He made his debut in the Premier League coming on for the final few minutes against Wolverhampton, and he is a player who is highly thought of.

But he's not the only option.

Liverpool took part in a training session on Tuesday afternoon, where Slot called-up several academy players. Wellity Lucky was part of the training, as was Tommy Pilling.

And the 21-year-old, who has never previously played a competitive game for Liverpool at senior level, only in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao, could become a surprise choice to make his debut for the Reds.

Pilling has been a fantastic player for the U21s this season. He wins a lot of duels, and he reads the game really well.

Pilling has become the key linchpin of the midfield under newly appointed head-coach Rob Page.

He was a stand-out performer in Liverpool's EFL Trophy defeat against Burton Albion, winning 100% of his ground duels (4/4) and hardly putting a foot-wrong while anchoring a midfield alongside Jay Spearing.

In total, Pilling has won the most duels for Liverpool's U21 side in the EFL Trophy, which shows just how good he is when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

But that's not all, he's also very composed and technical on the ball. He's always looking to play forward averaging 7.5 passes into the opposition's final third so far this season.

Versatility is also another great strength of his. Over the course of his career in the U18s and U21s, Pilling has played as a holding, box-to-box and attacking midfielder.

He's even covered left-back and centre-back on rare occasions.

Now given Liverpool's lack of depth, he could be set for a huge moment in his career and one that is very well deserved. A surprise debut is on the cards for him at the weekend.