Rising Liverpool starlet who’s yet to make first-team debut trained with Arne Slot’s squad today

Arne Slot took the opportunity to reward some up-and-coming Liverpool academy talents with a call-up to first-team training on Monday.

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The Reds were put through their paces at the AXA Training Centre this morning before flying out to Istanbul for the Champions League round-of-16 first leg against Galatasaray on Tuesday evening.

There were some players who partook in the session but haven’t travelled to Turkey, including Alisson Becker, who’s remained on Merseyside following a minor injury complaint.

Afolami Onanuga trains with Liverpool first team

Also involved in first-team training today – as highlighted by Liverpool academy reporter Lewis Bower on X – was attacking midfielder Afolami Onanuga.

The reporter subsequently described the 19-year-old as a ‘very interesting player who was spoken about a lot at U16 level when breaking through’, although he’s yet to make a senior matchday squad for a competitive fixture.

A tremendous vote of confidence in Onanuga

Having signed professional terms with Liverpool in November 2023, Onanuga has featured mostly at under-18 level for the club so far, with just nine outings for the under-21s to date (Transfermarkt).

He’s only played 181 minutes of football across the various age grades this season, and unsurprisingly he wasn’t included among the 21-player travelling squad for the Galatasaray game (liverpoolfc.com).

Informally known as ‘Fola’, the 19-year-old has been described on the official LFC website as a ‘talented player who links the game well and looks to have a positive impact in the attacking third’, and he must be doing something right to get the call from Slot to train with the first team.

Taking the next step from academy levels to senior football will be the biggest transition of all for Onanuga, who’ll be hoping to join Liverpool’s established stars on their pre-season tour to the United States in the summer and maybe feature in domestic cup games over the next 12 months.

His name will be one to keep an eye on for Reds supporters in the coming months, with the experience gleaned from his first-team training involvement this morning sure to have given him a tremendous confidence boost.

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