Jurgen Klopp recalled many of Liverpool’s on-loan youngsters last term, stating that it was best for teenagers to develop together at the club, but now it seems he’s changed his tune.
Young winger Ryan Kent is set to be sent to Barnsley for the season, report the Echo, with Jack Dunn and Lloyd Jones expected to follow the teenager down the leagues.
The likes of Danny Ward, Ryan Fulton and Adam Bogdan have already departed.
Kent’s played for the first-team throughout the summer, impressing in various pre-season fixtures, but with the plethora of options at Klopp’s disposal in attacking midfield, it’ll be best for the 19-year-old to play regular first-team football elsewhere.
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“A loan for Ryan would be really important, you can see he’s got lots of talent, you’ve seen that in the four games for the first team,” said Under-21 manager Michael Beale.
“He’s the fittest player we’ve got at the minute, because he’s played four games and everybody else has played two. That was the reason he played the 90 minutes today and he wore the captain’s armband second half so I’m not sure he’s done that much before.
“He’s one of the older players and I’m really pleased with him. He got some assists for the first team and scored a good goal again today.”
Liverpool have imposed a strategy in the loan market now which states that clubs must use our players in 75% of matches or they’ll face extra payments, so we can be sure Kent will get a chance to impress.
He did very well during a spell at Coventry during the first half of last season, but will now test himself in the Championship – much like Sergi Canos did last term. The Spaniard scored and assisted goals for Brentford, and was bought for £4m by Norwich as a result.
If Kent does well, we can sell him for a nice wedge next summer, or if he does brilliantly, hopefully bring him back to Anfield in time for the 2017/18 campaign.