Liverpool U23 boss Neil Critchley has praised Joe Hardy for the striker’s two-goal debut v Southampton.
Hardy bagged a brace as the young Reds romped to a 5-0 win in which Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott were instrumental.
Liverpool brought Hardy in from Brentford’s B-Team, which was a surprising signing considering he’s 21-years-old and has never made a first-team appearance, but clearly they’ve seen something in the forward…
“Joe has shown what he is about,” he said to the ECHO. “He is a goalscorer, he can finish, and he has shown that in training.
“He will be a useful asset for us this season as maybe in some of the games this season where we have dominated, we have not scored the goals our play has warranted.
“We know if we give the ball to Joe near to goal, there’s a good chance of him scoring.
“It was great for him to get off the mark. He was gutted to go off (Hardy was replaced midway through the second half) as he wanted his hat-trick, but we have plenty of games to come and he is going to be valuable for us.”
Hardy will have to do some truly extraordinary things for the U23s to get in Jurgen Klopp’s reckoning any time soon – with the boss now having a range of offensive options in the first-team since Taki Minamino’s arrival.
The signing of Hardy was more to cover Rhian Brewster, who has joined Swansea, but Klopp will still have noticed Hardy’s two-goal salvo and the manner in which he finished his second.
Perhaps he’ll get some minutes for the first-team this summer, but for now, he should keep his head down, learn as much as possible and keep finding the back of the net.