As Liverpool moved into the semifinals of the Carabao Cup, there were chances handed to several young or fringe players. Arne Slot hasn't made wholesale changes often since he arrived, but in this competition, he has taken the chance to do just that.

Starting the game, 17-year-old Trey Nyoni is very much in the inexperienced camp, while Wataru Endo has now played 92 percent of his minutes this season in the tournament that Liverpool is currently the holder. Somewhere in between, meanwhile, at 22, Tyler Morton perhaps falls more into the "fringe" than "young" category these days, with two full seasons under his belt in the Championship.

Playing his first competitive minutes at any level for more than a month against Southampton, Morton impressed in the first half in his usual midfield berth. Then, in the second, he did an admirable job for the team, filling in at right-back.

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It was a game and a performance that showed exactly where Morton is at right now: he is too good not to be playing regular soccer, but unlikely to get a Premier League or Champions League chance for the Reds ahead of Ryan Gravenberch.

Realistically, whatever team is pulled out of the hat to face Liverpool in the semifinals of the Carabao Cup, Slot will go stronger with his team selection than this. The first leg, for one thing, will come just days after the FA Cup tie at home to Accrington Stanley.

For Morton, that will likely mean playing in the Anfield game against the League Two outfit. Before then, it is hard to make the case for him seeing more minutes. After that, his route to match action will be limited too.

And yet, what Morton showed in the first 45 minutes on the south coast is that he is better than any equivalent Southampton player. He is comfortably a Premier League-ready midfielder who is not getting anywhere the Liverpool team at the moment.

Given the unlikeliness of that changing short of a sudden injury crisis, with Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones likely to be preferred over him in the case of Gravenberch needing to be covered on the evidence of this season to date, Morton's best move might be an exit.

Slot is not wrong to prefer the other options over him, but for the player, he is too good to be getting sporadic appearances. As the domestic competitions get closer to the finals and Liverpool takes them more seriously, his minutes will only decrease. In the league and in Europe, others will be selected ahead of him aside from potential dead rubbers.

While Liverpool would be unwilling to lose Morton for an unsubstantial fee — quite rightly, given his ability level — there was interest from around Europe in the academy product in the summer. He hasn't played much since, but that shouldn't have changed.

Slot can't leave himself short of numbers but the evidence suggests that there would have to be quite the crisis before Morton got a chance in the bigger games, reflecting the quality that the Reds have among the first-choice players. For the young midfielder himself, it should point to winter change of scenery — on loan, or possibly permanently, he deserves to be playing.