Trey Nyoni wasn’t originally supposed to be with England Under-21s this week.
Now he is.
The Liverpool midfielder has been promoted from the England Under-20 squad after Jobe Bellingham and Lewis Miley both left the Under-21 camp through injury. Everton’s Harrison Armstrong has also been brought up alongside Nyoni.
For Nyoni, this is another little step forward in what is becoming a really interesting season.
He has already been involved around Liverpool’s first team under Andoni Iraola and has made four appearances this season. His most recent appearance came off the bench in the 1-0 win at Bournemouth.
He’s only 19, but he doesn’t look like a kid who is miles away from senior football anymore.
What I particularly like about Nyoni is that he seems to understand what Iraola wants from him.
He has spoken about the manager’s football being “forward-thinking”, with an emphasis on playing forward quickly and pressing aggressively. Nyoni also said he has mainly been playing as a No.6 and sees that as the position Iraola is likely to use him in most often.
That could be important for Liverpool.
The midfield is packed with experienced players, so Nyoni isn’t going to suddenly become a guaranteed starter. He knows that himself. But the fact Iraola is already trusting him with minutes tells you the door is open.
And now England have given him another opportunity.
Nyoni has already represented England at Under-16, Under-17, Under-18, Under-19 and Under-20 level, but this will be his first involvement with the Under-21s.
That’s quite a jump.
He also made history recently by becoming the youngest player to make a competitive appearance for England’s Under-20s, before providing the assist for Mikey Moore’s winner against France.
So this isn’t simply a case of England needing another midfielder because two players got injured.
Nyoni has been knocking on the door.
Now he’s got another chance to show what he can do at the next level.
England’s Under-21s face Slovakia on Friday before travelling to Ireland next week, so Nyoni could get some valuable minutes with Lee Carsley’s side.
From Liverpool’s point of view, I actually think this is encouraging.
We’ve seen plenty of young players get labelled as the next big thing before they’ve even had a proper run of senior football. Nyoni seems to be taking a slightly different route. He’s getting exposure to Liverpool’s first team, learning from senior midfielders and gradually being introduced rather than being thrown in every week.
That’s probably the sensible way to do it.
And if he can take this England opportunity and come back to Liverpool with even more confidence, it can only help.
I’ve said before that Liverpool might already have some of the answers to their midfield problems inside the squad.
Nyoni is one of the players I keep an eye on.
He’s not the finished article. He doesn’t need to be.
But every time he steps up another level, the argument for giving him more opportunities becomes a little stronger.
Now he’s got an England Under-21 shirt to fight for as well.
And that’s another big step for Trey Nyoni.
By Jamie (The Kopite View)
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