One Liverpool player who’s currently out on loan may yet have the final say on whether or not he cuts short his deal and returns to Anfield sooner than originally scheduled.
On Thursday, Paul Gorst reported for the Liverpool Echo that the Reds plan to speak with Norwich City about the possibility of recalling Kaide Gordon, who’s made just one start for the Canaries since joining them on a temporary basis on summer transfer deadline day.
It’s claimed that Carrow Road chiefs even have an ‘expectation’ that the 20-year-old could go back to his parent club, who’ve yet to make a decision either way ahead of further discussions with the Championship outfit.
Norwich manager Johannes Hoff Thorup has now reacted to reports of a possible Liverpool recall for the young winger, and he appears to have placed the ball firmly in Gordon’s court.
The Canaries boss said (via Pink Un): “I don’t think I will consider now whether he should go back in January because I see such a busy schedule, so I can easily see that he could make his way into the team again if he’s training well and doing his stuff like he’s supposed to do, then there is a way in for him.
“At the end, it is also up to him in his career what his next step should be. If he wants to stay here and fight, I would be more than happy about it because we need good players, and he is definitely a good player. He’s struggling to get into the team with all it takes physically and especially tactically.
“As a football team, we need more than 20 players to create the competition that we want to have. It’s a natural thing, and for the moment, he is out of the team because I prioritise some of the others.”
Thorup is making no apologies for the lack of game-time that Gordon has had at Norwich (just 165 minutes, and one since 5 November), so Liverpool might need to strongly consider recalling the 20-year-old.
His inability to make headway at Carrow Road means that another loan exit seems inevitable if he comes back to Anfield, and he might look to the example of Fabio Carvalho, who had an unhappy spell at RB Leipzig cut short 12 months ago before a temporary move to Hull in which he flourished.
If the youngster is recalled by the Reds and sent on loan elsewhere in January, hopefully he can improve on the apparent shortcomings that the Canaries boss has stated, so that he doesn’t end up in a vicious cycle of unproductive loans which prevent his career from ever truly taking off.
Gordon doesn’t lack for talent, having been entrusted with first-team football at Liverpool when he was only 17 and scored a tremendous goal for Norwich in the autumn, but it must be remembered that his progress has undoubtedbly been hindered by a cruel 19-month injury layoff.
The Anfield hierarchy need to make whatever decision is best for the player’s development. If that means recalling him from Carrow Road and sending him on loan to a club where his prospect of regular game-time would be enhanced, so be it.
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