Why Liverpool left out several big names as transfer interest mounts

It was a mixed weekend for Liverpool's Academy teams as a whole host of big names sat out the action on Saturday. Barry Lewtas's Under-21s were able to toast to a 3-1 win against Manchester City at the Kirkby Academy as goals from Dominic Corness, Tom Hill and James Norris did the damage to the visitors.

Amaro Nallo, who was part of the senior team's tour of the United States across late July and early August, was involved but there were several notable absences on the day as the likes of Ben Doak, Kaide Gordon, Trey Nyoni, Stefan Bajcetic and Tyler Morton were all left out.

None of that quintet were involved with the senior side on Saturday lunchtime as Arne Slot's men kicked off their Premier League campaign with a 2-0 win over Ipswich Town but Nyoni did travel with his more experienced colleagues, despite training with the U21s on Friday at the AXA Centre.

Doak remains the source of speculation over his future with it understood that all options are being considered at present amid interest from newly-promoted sides Southampton and Leicester City. The Scotland winger has endured a difficult time with injuries this calendar year and was not risked at the Kirkby base.

Gordon also has interest from the Championship with discussions over a potential loan move in the pipeline. It's thought initial advances from Swansea City have cooled, however.

Morton is wanted by RB Leipzig and Atalanta, among others, while Owen Beck, who missed the match, is attracting the attention of plenty of clubs from the Championship.

Understandably, Bobby Clark was not involved either as he closes in on a £10m switch to Red Bull Salzburg, where former assistant boss Pep Lijnders is waiting having driven the interest in the midfielder in recent weeks. I

It was reported that a behind-closed-game was planned for Sunday to help get some further minutes into the legs of those who missed the weekend's action. Neither Doak nor Gordon trained with the U21s on Friday.

For Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's Under-18s team, it was a different story to their U21 counterparts, as they were well beaten by Derby County at Moor Farm Training Centre, slipping to a 5-1 reverse on the day.

Striker Josh Sonni-Lambie scored Liverpool's goal and the U18s now return to action when they meet Middlesbrough in a lunchtime kick-off on Saturday August 24.

Bridge-Wilkinson told the club's official website: “It was a really difficult scoreline to take obviously, and it’s not nice to concede that many goals and lose a game like that.

“It’s fair to say we’ve contributed to at least three of those goals with individual errors. I thought we played well apart from that but we were 3-0 down before we’ve really got into the game, and although we had a lot of possession we didn’t really work them enough in the final third.

“Look, it’s not nice, it’s not easy but it’s something we can learn from and the scoreline aside, with Derby scoring two late goals, there are positives we can take from the way we played in certain moments. Ultimately, goals change games so we have to find a way to score more and concede less.

“Whichever team we put out, the challenge is always to go and win the game and always to implement the style and version of the football we want to play, so scoreline aside there were definitely positives to take from today.”

The U21s start their Premier League International Cup campaign next, hosting PSV Eindhoven at the Academy on August 21.