Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton has admitted this season was tough for him after he wasn't allowed to head on loan — but wasn't played once in the Premier League by Arne Slot.
Morton, 22, is heading to the UEFA Under-21 European Championship with England next week, alongside his Liverpool teammates Harvey Elliott and Jarell Quansah. All three of the trio remain highly rated, but none got the minutes they desired this season with more senior options at Anfield preferred.
Elliott played 822 minutes for Liverpool in all competitions, while Quansah got 1290. Morton, though, got only 261 minutes, mostly in the early rounds of the Carabao Cup. His last appearance at senior level came against Accrington in mid-January.
"I think it's been the toughest season mentally for me," Morton told the Daily Mail. "Obviously, I've coped with it very well because I've got good people around me, but it's been very tough.
"I think I've coped with it as well as I possibly could. I think when you're not playing as a footballer who's as hungry as I am, it does hurt. It's tough, especially when, in my opinion, I wanted to go out and I wanted to play and I wanted to go on loan and get my game time.
"But having chatted with the manager, having to stay, it could have worked out a lot worse than it did. It probably could have worked out a lot better than it did."
Tyler Morton of Liverpool during the final training session of the season
Liverpool midfielder Tyler Morton (Image: Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Pep Guardiola threatened to "quit" recently if Manchester City didn't give him a smaller roster next season, so he doesn't have to leave players out of his matchday squad. And Slot has hinted that he finds that tough as well.
"Maybe there are not many managers who have such a good squad as I have," the Liverpool head coach said in February. "I have said it many times. If you look at the league table, the players have shown that the trust we have in them was correct."
"That is one of the only things I don’t understand here in England," Slot explained. "Everywhere around the world, in Europe as well when we play in the Champions League, we can take 23 players.
"We are here in a country where we play the most games, especially all the ones playing in Europe, and we have the League Cup and the FA Cup and we only have 20 players we can take to the game.
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"If you are able to play all these games, you need a big squad. To pick the first XI is difficult but to tell someone they’re not even in the squad is even harder.
"It’s not for that (individual) game because nine substitutes is more than enough but to keep the dressing room going because you need more than 20 players in this country."
There is expected to be interest in Morton this summer and the U21 Euros could provide a good platform to remind suitors of what he can do. Bayer Leverkusen was said to be among those looking at the Wirral-born midfielder last summer.
"[Slot] asked me just to be myself and to play the way he likes to play with his teams, and I think I've done that when I've played, so it's been a good season," Morton added. "I've still developed and, as you said, I still feel really sharp and really ready to go."
Liverpool.com says: Morton is really talented and he deserves the chance to show that. He can definitely make it somewhere in the Premier League, while a move abroad could be worth considering too.