{"id":319617,"date":"2025-08-05T10:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T10:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319617\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T10:54:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T10:54:15","slug":"will-wright-speaks-after-joining-liverpool-as-transfer-decision-explained-earned-this-opportunity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/319617\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Wright speaks after joining Liverpool as transfer decision explained – ‘Earned this opportunity’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Will Wright made his unofficial debut for Liverpool against Athletic Bilbao after joining the club from Salford CityThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Liverpool'sLiverpool’s Will Wright reacts after failing to score during the second of two pre season friendly football matches between Liverpool and Athletic Bilbao at Anfield(Image: AFP)<\/p>\n

Will Wright has spoken for the first time as a Liverpool player after joining the Reds from Salford City. The 17-year-old snubbed interest from Arsenal in favour of completing an initial \u00a3200k move to Anfield<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The teenager made his first appearance in a Liverpool shirt for Rob Page\u2019s Under-21s side on Saturday, before his transfer was officially confirmed by club clubs on Monday.<\/p>\n

The striker was then handed an unofficial first team debut by Arne Slot<\/a> when he was introduced as a substitute in the Reds\u2019 3-2 pre-season win over Athletic Bilbao. Meanwhile, he was denied a maiden goal in front of the Kop after being played in by Federico Chiesa, only for goalkeeper Unai Simon to keep out his near post strike.<\/p>\n

Ahead of his appearance for the first team, Wright took to Instagram to share his pride at joining the club.<\/p>\n

\u201cA proud moment for me and my family to announce I\u2019ve signed for the Premier League<\/a> champions!\u201d he wrote on Instagram, tagging Liverpool<\/a> as he shared pictures of the forward signing his contract and posing with his family in a Reds shirt.<\/p>\n

He would post again after featuring against Athletic Bilbao as he shared pictures of his saved chance and introduction in place of Florian Wirtz.<\/p>\n

Salford\u2019s head of academy, Jamie Russell, had previously shared his delight for Wright at joining Liverpool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are absolutely delighted for Will to complete his move to Liverpool after a very successful season as a first year scholar,\u201d he told the League Two outfit\u2019s club website<\/a>. \u201cHe has earned this opportunity and we are excited to see how he continues to develop and progress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s brilliant for us as an Academy to see a player move on to a Category 1 club. We\u2019ve only been Category 3 ourselves since 2023, but in that time to see 17 players make men\u2019s team debuts and to have interest in a number of players from clubs higher up the leagues is testament to the job that the coaches, the staff, and the recruitment team here are doing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is clear that we have a pathway here at Salford, and there is a platform for players to come in from grassroots, learn, and perform to fulfil their potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we don\u2019t want to just sell our best players, we want to see them stay here, do well, reach the men\u2019s team and be successful for the club, but when moves like this happen it\u2019s also a time to celebrate the player and their achievement, and the success of the work that\u2019s been put into helping their development.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new monthly print edition for all LFC fans is on sale now<\/p>\n

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And now this monthly print edition of Blood Red will add to that mix with top features, interviews, analysis, comment, nostalgia, previews \u2013 and sometimes a bit of humour! Available to buy here.<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in their official club statement announcing Wright\u2019s departure, Salford also explained why they had sanctioned his exit.<\/p>\n

It read: \u201cSalford City FC is pleased to confirm that it has reached an agreement with Liverpool to sign academy player, Will Wright.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe club received a significant offer from Liverpool which was in the best interests of both Salford and Will, who joined our academy in October of 2023. During his time at the club the 17-year-old enjoyed a prolific spell in his first year as a scholar and scored over 40 goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn addition he made his senior debut in the Emirates FA Cup<\/a> as a substitute at Manchester City, followed by his league debut at Port Vale to join the likes of Kelly Nmai and Kyrell Malcolm in making his debut while still an Under-18.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of us at Salford City wish Will the very best in his future career, and we hope to see him continue to develop and thrive!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Will Wright made his unofficial debut for Liverpool against Athletic Bilbao after joining the club from Salford CityThis…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":319618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,763,1596,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-319617","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-liverpool-fc-transfer-news","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114975792520204492","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319617","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=319617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}