{"id":282787,"date":"2025-07-22T15:08:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282787\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T15:08:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:08:11","slug":"liverpool-midfielder-to-sign-contract-and-leave-on-loan-after-asia-tour-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/282787\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool midfielder to sign contract and leave on loan after Asia tour &#8211; Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Liverpool have made a decision on the future of utility youngster <a data-ail=\"324296\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/liverpool-fc\/luca-stephenson\/\" title=\"Luca Stephenson\" rel=\"noopener\">Luca Stephenson<\/a>, who is set to sign a new contract after the pre-season tour of Asia.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>It was a busy weekend for Stephenson, who started for the U21s in <a data-mil=\"324296\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/2025\/07\/kaide-gordon-scores-brace-and-3-new-deal-hints-as-liverpool-u21s-win-8-0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">their 8-0 friendly win over Celtic<\/a> on Saturday before turning out for the first team in <a data-mil=\"324296\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/2025\/07\/florian-wirtz-debuts-and-darwin-nunez-scores-hat-trick-in-liverpool-friendly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a 5-0 victory over Stoke<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Hours after his involvement in that behind-closed-doors game, the 21-year-old boarded the flight to Hong Kong ahead of involvement in two warmup fixtures in Asia.<\/p>\n<p>Stephenson\u2019s inclusion in the touring squad may have come as a surprise, but the versatile academy graduate is clearly a favourite of <a data-ail=\"324296\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/liverpool-fc\/arne-slot\/\" title=\"Arne Slot\" rel=\"noopener\">Arne Slot<\/a>\u2018s.<\/p>\n<p>While that may not result in a senior role at Liverpool this season, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6506078\/2025\/07\/22\/manchester-united-transfer-news-latest-analysis-arsenal-liverpool-real-madrid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Athletic<\/a>\u2018s Gregg Evans reports that there are still plans in place for the future.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/P2024-08-11-Liverpool_Sevilla-50-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, August 11, 2024: Liverpool's Luca Stephenson during a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Sevilla FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe\/Propaganda)\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden alignnone size-medium wp-image-307318\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>With his current deal due to expire next summer, Stephenson is set to sign a new long-term contract after the return from tour before departing on loan.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLiverpool see the value of monitoring the 21-year-old\u2019s progress for at least another campaign,\u201d Evans writes.<\/p>\n<p>Though his destination is as yet unknown, Dundee United are <a data-mil=\"324296\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/2025\/07\/liverpool-set-to-make-luca-stephenson-transfer-decision\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">among the clubs interested<\/a> having seen Stephenson win their Young Player of the Season while on loan at Tannadice last term.<\/p>\n<p>It is likely that Liverpool will look for a step up in quality for their No. 91, however, particularly if there are designs on testing him as a first-team option.<\/p>\n<p>This summer was seen as a decisive one for Stephenson one way or another, as the club would almost certainly have looked to sell if he was deemed to have no future in the senior setup.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-lazy-type=\"image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/2024-07-31-053-Liverpool_Arsenal-600x400.jpg\" alt=\"PHILADELPHIA - Wednesday, July 31, 2024: Liverpool substitutes Trey Nyoni (L) and Luca Stephenson before a pre-season friendly match between Liverpool FC and Arsenal FC at the Lincoln Financial Field on day eight of the club's pre-season tour of the USA. Liverpool won 2-1. (Photo by David Rawcliffe\/Propaganda)\" width=\"600\" height=\"400\" class=\"lazy lazy-hidden alignnone size-medium wp-image-307357\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>While a new contract is a prerequisite to a loan move, avoiding a free transfer situation next summer, Evans\u2019 report at least suggests it could be intended to tie down a talent with first-team prospects.<\/p>\n<p>Slot seemingly values Stephenson\u2019s ability to play in a variety of positions, as though he is a natural midfielder the head coach has already used him at right-back and centre-back.<\/p>\n<p>In the friendly win against Stoke, he could even be seen in an advanced position almost as a No. 10, which saw him go close to scoring after a cutback from <a data-ail=\"324296\" target=\"_self\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thisisanfield.com\/liverpool-fc\/jeremie-frimpong\/\" title=\"Jeremie Frimpong\" rel=\"noopener\">Jeremie Frimpong<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Liverpool would likely prefer a loan move in either the Championship or perhaps abroad as Stephenson\u2019s next challenge \u2013 and developments are likely in early August.<\/p>\n<p>* You can follow all Liverpool\u2019s pre-season friendlies live with <a href=\"https:\/\/thisisanfield.com\/allredvideo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">All Red Video<\/a>, the new video offering from the club that replaces LFCTV. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/thisisanfield.com\/allredvideo\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Purchase All Red Video here.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool have made a decision on the future of utility youngster Luca Stephenson, who is set to sign&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":282788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,763,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-282787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-liverpool-fc","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114897518988981726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=282787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/282788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=282787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=282787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=282787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}