Ian Wright was blown away by what he saw from one of Liverpool’s youngsters at Wembley on Sunday afternoon and has explained why he ‘envies’ the Anfield-based outfit.
The Reds defeated Chelsea 1-0 thanks to Virgil van Dijk’s header in extra-time to claim their tenth League Cup trophy.
Liverpool were without a number of experienced players for the clash in the capital with Mo Salah, Darwin Nunez and Dominik Szoboszlai just a few of the names absent from the match day squad.
Jurgen Klopp’s bench was made up of a number of teenagers, including 18-year-old Jayden Danns who only made his debut against Luton Town last week, but Wright was impressed by what he saw from the young forward.
“You look at the young players that came on, even [Jayden] Danns, I’ve not seen too much of him. Heard his name before,” said the ex-Arsenal favourite on his Wrighty’s House podcast (via Liverpool.com).
“But he came on in that final like an experienced pro the way he played, the way he held the ball, he didn’t look like he was in awe of anything. He was just in and ready to go.
“And that is something to do with the aura of Liverpool and what they expect from a player that can come on and, ‘this is fine, this is what we’re about’. I envy them for that.”
Danns worked his socks off at the top end of the pitch when he replaced Cody Gakpo with three minutes of normal time remaining.
He had two chances to open the scoring but was denied by a brilliant save and then a terrific challenge to keep the score goalless at the time.
Despite his tender age the teenager is a towering presence in attack and it appears that the England youth international, who signed for Liverpool at the age of eight, has a bright future ahead of him.
With our injuries continuing to mount up the Academy ace can continue to expect more chances in the coming weeks as we seek to continue to fight on the three remaining fronts.
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