Liverpool coaches “delighted” with 17-year-old – called up for pre-season as “reward”

Amara Nallo has been involved throughout pre-season with Liverpool’s first team, with coaches at the club “delighted” with the 17-year-old defender.

Nallo made his first appearance at senior level in midweek, when he came off the bench in the 2-1 friendly win over Arsenal in Philadelphia.

“Proud moment for me making my first-team debut,” he wrote on Instagram. “Grateful for the opportunity and experience.”

With his 18th birthday not until November, Nallo is one of the youngest players on tour in the United States, but he has been treated like the rest of Arne Slot‘s squad.

His inclusion for pre-season has come, according to the Mail‘s Lewis Steele, as a “reward for a stellar first season in the academy.”

Signed from West Ham as a first-year scholar last year, Nallo began life with the U18s but quickly stepped up to become a first-choice starter with the U21s, as well as training regularly with Jurgen Klopp‘s first team.

That has not changed despite Klopp and many of his staff leaving, with the teenager clearly remaining in Slot’s plans for the future.

Steele writes that “coaches have been delighted with his developments,” with the expectation being that he stays on Merseyside this season as a regular with the U21s again.

Having arrived in the same summer as Trey Nyoni, Nallo is another example of Liverpool’s new approach to youth recruitment.

No longer able to sign players under the age of 18 from abroad, the club are instead looking to bring in the best youngsters from clubs across the UK.

This summer it has seen Rio Ngumoha and Alvin Ayman arrive from Chelsea and Wolves respectively, though those deals are yet to be ratified by the Premier League.

With the pathway from academy to first team at Liverpool laid clear, it is no surprise that teenagers are choosing to join the Reds over their competitors.

Nallo is another example of this, with his inclusion throughout pre-season the next step in his promising development.