Arne Slot could hand opportunities to several Liverpool youngsters as Southampton visit Anfield in the Carabao Cup this week, and they’ll be keen to take their chance to impress
Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool(Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool turn their attention to the start of their Carabao Cup campaign this midweek, with Southampton the third round visitors to Anfield. Last season the trophy narrowly escaped Arne Slot and Co, ironically as Alexander Isak helped former club Newcastle United to victory against the Reds in the final.
But now a new opportunity begins and the head coach has already hinted towards how he is going to handle the demands of simultaneous Premier League, European, and domestic cup campaigns. Speaking after Saturday’s 2-1 Merseyside derby win over Everton – his side’s third match in six days – Slot directly named five huge stars he will rotate from the squad.
“The good thing is I have the option to rotate throughout the week, and the ones that played three times 90 minutes are Virgil [van Dijk], Ibou (Ibrahima Konate), Mo (Mohamed Salah), Ryan [Gravenberch] and Dom (Dominik Szoboszlai), the ones that are used to this intensity at this level, and again they showed up really good.
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“I can tell you now you won’t be seeing them on Tuesday.”
In theory, this opens the door for not only several fringe players who have been made to play cameo roles in league matches so far, but also upcoming talents looking to prove they have what it takes to be future stars of Slot’s squad.
Here, the ECHO takes a look at six Reds youngsters who could be handed opportunities against the Saints on Tuesday night (8pm).
Giovanni Leoni
Giovanni Leoni signs for Liverpool(Image: Nikki Dyer – LFC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool completed the £26m summer signing of Giovanni Leoni from Italian club Parma last month. The 18-year-old penned a six-year contract.
He made 17 appearances for his former club in his breakthrough 2024/25 season and following the Reds’ sale of Jarell Quansah one month earlier, the plan was for Leoni to enter straight into Slot’s squad.
The central defender was named on the bench against Atletico Madrid last week and with Van Dijk and Konate both rested now, there is a strong chance the new recruit makes his debut.
Jayden Danns
Jayden Danns scored his first senior goals for Liverpool in a 3-0 win over Tuesday’s opponents in the fifth round of the FA Cup in 2023/24. As he also featured in the Carabao Cup final win vs Chelsea at Wembley Stadium that week, it was a dream start for the teenager.
But that seems so long ago now, and Danns’ progress has been stunted by various injury troubles over the past 18 months.
He was meant to be on loan at Sunderland for the final half of last season, but missed out on Regis Le Bris’ side earning promotion to the Premier League as he didn’t recover in time. Now the striker is back on Merseyside and could get an opportunity for a do-over against a familiar foe.
We’ll have to see what plan Slot has in store, with this game potentially good for Isak to build up his fitness.
Trey Nyoni
Trusted in the Champions League and cups last season, Trey Nyoni’s name could be back amongst the first team on Tuesday.
The 18-year-old arrived from Leicester City’s academy in summer 2023 and has primarily featured for the club’s Under-21s since. However, he was a key absentee from Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to bitter rivals Manchester United in the battle between the younger age groups.
It could be a hint that Slot is about to call up the youngster for only the second time in 2025/26, and perhaps even give him first start.
Naturally a midfielder, Nyoni played as a central defender against Athletic Club in the first of two Anfield friendlies on the same afternoon in August.
Rio Ngumoha
Liverpool winger Rio Ngumoha(Image: Getty Images)
Rio Ngumoha has established himself as a senior squad player in the early weeks of the season. That fact was massively helped with a strike in the 10th minute of stoppage time to clinch a 3-2 victory over Newcastle at St. James’ Park last month.
Since, he’s continued to make increasingly longer substitute cameos. One of those, against Atletico, made him Liverpool’s youngest-ever player in European competition, shortly past his 17th birthday.
Now Ngumoha could also get his first start of the season against Southampton.
Kieran Morrison
Kieran Morrison, 18, is another who has been playing above his age level in the Liverpool academy. But, like Nyoni, he was nowhere to be seen for the match against United Under-21s on Sunday.
The winger, who can also play centrally, has already scored once in three Premier League 2 appearances this term and could be called up by Slot for only the second time.
The Northern Irishman’s only other inclusion was as an unused substitute against PSV in the Champions League last season.
Tommy Pilling
A third player to miss the narrow defeat to United Under-21s was midfielder Tommy Pilling.
The 21-year-old fro St. Helen’s is another key part of Rob Page’s squad but his absence similarly suggests there are big plans in store for him this week.
Last season Pilling’s versatility was greatly tested with the U21s as he was tasked with playing as an attacking midfielder, on the left flank, and also further forward in attack. He scored four goals overall.