Return of the Record-Breaker: Liverpool Ace Sets Course for Comeback, Ending Klopp’s 693-Day Wait
Every young football player grows in a unique way. Staff members at Liverpool frequently have to make decisions about who is ready for senior football and when the timing is right because some players mature physically faster than others and some take longer.
Football players are not any different from other humans in that regard. Consider Steven Gerrard as an illustration. He may be one of the greatest Liverpool players of all time, but he didn’t really start making an impact on the first squad until he was 19 years old. It’s simple to understand how player development differs from player to player when you contrast Gerrard with someone like Jude Bellingham, who at that age had already made numerous appearances for his country and played in more than 100 first-team games.
Not everyone is going to be a Michael Owen or a Bellingham, for that matter. Growing pains often held back Gerrard, as they do many young football players who blossom ‘late’. or, more accurately, musculoskeletal problems in adolescents.
In football, this is not unusual. Adolescents frequently grow and develop at varying speeds. Gerrard experienced a significant growth spurt between the ages of 17 and 18, which required Liverpool to manage him carefully and postponed his debut in the first team.
Erling Haaland had to go through a similar scenario at Molde in Norway when the team prevented him from playing football due to a massive growth spurt. I recall discussing this exact topic with Molde FK scout John Vik for First Time Finish.
“He was really impatient because we wouldn’t play him at the start, he didn’t get games, he just had to train alternative for a long time,” he said. However, the medical staff believed that it would be best for him to rest for the next six months or so and then gradually return to football.”
Kaide Gordon, a highly regarded prospect now at Liverpool, recently had to go through a similar procedure to that of Haaland and Gerrard. When the young player from Liverpool first joined the team in 2021, he quickly became well-known and even made a few first-team outings.
Among his first team accomplishments was the distinction of becoming the team’s youngest-ever FA Cup scorer, having scored against Shrewsbury back in 2022. However, Gordon made four games for Liverpool overall and earned his Premier League debut as well. His final minutes at the top level came during the Carabao Cup semi-final second leg versus Arsenal, which took place exactly 693 days ago.
Gordon, who was just 1.73 metres tall at the time, began to experience pelvic pain and was eventually diagnosed with teenage musculoskeletal problems, similar to what Gerrard had previously had. Gordon was forced to miss the remainder of the 2021–2022 season starting at the end of February as a result, and he did not play for the club’s academy teams last season.
But now, following a protracted absence, he’s back and playing football. He played 16 minutes for the club’s U21 team in the Premier League 2 earlier this season in September. He then returned to action in the Premier League International Cup, spending slightly over 30 minutes against Benfica. In Premier League 2 and the EFL Trophy, Gordon has played 105 minutes in total, leading the team against Barrow.
He was listed as a reserve against Toulouse two days later. Although Gordon was unlikely to be used by Liverpool in that match and especially not when the team was still trying to win, it was a good consolation prize for a player who had been out of action for so long. He is now aiming to appear in today’s dead rubber match against Union SG, along with several other rising prospects.
Gordon appears to be getting more muscular now that he is playing at the academy level. He’s obviously matured a lot, and he’s put on weight too. He appears notably stronger than the slender adolescent Liverpool supporters witnessed competing for the first team nearly two years ago.
Thus, we haven’t had much luck with some of our highly talented prospects,” Jürgen Klopp stated at yesterday’s press conference. “Let me put it this way: we’ve already had instances where they were a touch too good for their physical position. Because of their exceptional quality, we believed they could assist us immediately away and that things were moving in the right path.
“After that, the body tells you to quit. It was a pretty long time out, and that really happened to Kaide two or three times, but it’s so nice now because on our first day back at training, we all realizes, “Ah, that’s what we missed!” That is what we already possessed.
Thus, nothing has happened yet; he is still a very young and excellent player, and he is now playing with the first squad. We make an effort to give him as much playing time as we can with the U21s because, as you are aware, I firmly think that we require a potent U21 squad. There are several ways to develop abilities, and they all need to be on loan everywhere at the same time.
“And particularly after extended injuries, you shouldn’t assume that just because he’s fit, we can send him out right away. There’s a great group of young boys there, and we will definitely see some of them tomorrow.”
Gordon’s development will be patiently handled by Liverpool. It’s crucial to remember that he just turned 19 a few months ago. Nevertheless, Klopp is still aware of his talent.
He will eventually find out if Gordon keeps up his hard work and whether he can once more greatly help the club’s first team. This game today might be the perfect opportunity to give him some senior minutes in Europe in exchange for his patient injury recovery.
