Who is Trey Nyoni? Liverpool’s record-breaking teenage prospect starts at Plymouth

Exciting teenager Trey Nyoni starts for Liverpool in their FA Cup clash with Plymouth Argyle on Sunday afternoon as he continues to gain first team experience. The 17-year-old midfielder has already turned out in the FA Cup, Carabao Cup and even in the Champions League, but still awaits his Premier League debut. It appears to only be a matter of time, though, with Arne Slot clearly a fan of the youngster as he continues to get him involved in the senior side.

Nyoni came through the youth ranks at his hometown club Leicester City but moved to Liverpool in September 2023. It did not take him long to make an impression at Anfield and was on the bench for a Premier League clash with Brentford by November 2023 under Jurgen Klopp, although he did not get on the pitch. By February 2024 he had made his first team debut, though, as he came off the bench in the FA Cup against Southampton.

This saw him become the youngest Liverpool player ever to appear in the FA Cup at just 16 years and 243 days. The teenager has since become the Reds’ youngest-ever player in European competition as well when he came on for Andy Robertson against PSV last month in the Champions League. His start against Plymouth on Sunday is not his first for the club as he was in Slot’s starting XI against Southampton in the League Cup in December, a match the Reds won 2-1 at St Mary’s.

Nyoni has been capped by England from Under-16 up to Under-19 level. Speaking about the exciting prospect earlier this season, Slot said: ‘He’s a young player, a young, young player. He only just became 17, but with a lot of talent and he had an impact in pre-season. ‘So he’s a talent, but being a talent is not enough, not enough to play on a regular basis in the first team. ‘So we need to keep developing him, he needs playing time to develop. That’s why sometimes as a manager, you feel we might meet him with the first team, but it’s so, so important for him to keep playing his games.’.

After captaining Liverpool’s Under-19 team against AC Milan earlier this season while training with the first team, Slot said: ‘He played in Milan also with the Under-19s because for him to develop, he needs to train with us and he needs to keep having his playing time at the highest-possible level. ‘But I think training with the likes of all the players we have, helps him to develop, so we’re taking good care of him and we’re aware he’s only 17. That’s probably the reason why people see him as such a talent because he’s already showed some interesting things.’.