With Liverpool heading into the 2026-27 season without making any signings to address their depth issues in midfield, the chances were always high that 19-year-old academy graduate Trey Nyoni would be given chances to show what he could do by new head coach Andoni Iraola.
It might even be fair to say Liverpool’s hopes for the season reseted in part on Nyoni being able to take those chances when they did come.
To his credit, and rather fortunately for the team, he’s done just that. The youngster has made nine appearances to date, seeing the pitch in 75% of the games played in all competitions and earning 373 minutes—numbers which would project to 1,500-2,000 minutes across the entire season.
“My motive has always just been,whet her I’m on the pitch for a minute, five minutes, 10 minutes, 90 minutes, I just try to make the most out of the minutes I get,” Nyoni said ahead of Wednesday’s League Cup tie against Chelsea, which he is widely expected to start.
“But I think in the last few weeks obviously I’ve had a lot of exposure, which has been good for me. It’s something different, playing a lot of minutes within a short space of tim, but it has been really good.”
He’s not the only youngster seeing big minutes early as Iraola looks to navigate a season where the Red will be trying to go deep and compete for silverware in four competitions despite a squad largely seen as thin at multiple positions and not just in midfield, with Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas also seeing plenty of action.
“For me it’s positive to see the younger players,” Nyoni added. “Obviously we need to stick together, help each other as much as possible. We know that being here, it’s not easy, there’s a lot of world-class players here. They’re going to push us every day.
“I think having that allows us to keep pushing on and keep progressing. Every time we go on the pitch, I think none of us are really nervous—I think we all go out there and give 100%. That’s what’s important.”