Liverpool have become renowned in the last 5-10 years for the shrewd and smart off-pitch decisions they always seem to make. Sporting directors Michael Edwards, Richard Hughes and others have done a fantastic job in ensuring Liverpool are always fighting it out at the top of the table in spite of the fact they spend significantly less than their counterparts. The hiring of Arne Slot accompanied by the fact that Liverpool didn’t make any significant signings last season left a lot of people questioning whether they’d be able to still compete at the apex of English football, but 12 months later it proved to be a masterstroke. Just one example of Liverpool’s recruitment team being a step or two ahead of the rest, their constant ability to manoeuvre swiftly and intelligently through the transfer market will no doubt leave them in good stead in the long term.

However that doesn’t mean they’re bound to get every decision right. The sale of Tyler Morton to Lyon for €10 million has gone under the radar to most of us who aren’t Liverpool fans, but to those who are supporters of the two time Premier League winners or have dabbled in a fare share of Championship football, they’ll know that the Reds have let go of a seriously talented player.

After two games in France, he’s already been dubbed the ‘Wallasey Pirlo’, hinting at his classy playstyle. The 22 year old rapidly rose through the ranks of Liverpool’s academy to then find himself out on 2 consecutive season-long loans to Blackburn and Hull City in the 22/23 and 23/24 campaigns respectively. Morton adapted relatively quickly to professional football and established himself as one of the best midfielders in the division. We know how unforgiving the Championship is, so to drop in a 19 year old midfielder with relatively little experience of first-team football, you’d expect there to be quite a few bumps along the way. Morton made lightwork of this challenge and after 2 years of assured and consistent performances in the middle of the park, some were expecting him to finally take the jump and become a key member of the Liverpool first-team.

Unfortunately for the England u-21 international, he barely featured in the 24/25 campaign. For one reason or another, it seems Slot didn’t take a liking to him and Morton was reduced to a few starts in the Carabao Cup and sporadic minutes off the bench in the league, playing an insignificant 5 times for Liverpool across the whole season. It was clear he wasn’t in the Dutchman’s long-term plans so off he went to take his talents to the East of France.

2 starts, 2 wins and one man-of-the-match later in Ligue 1 and Tyler Morton has already captured the hearts of Lyon’s famously volatile fanbase. Though the Pirlo shouts are delightful and more of a light joke, it would be cruel to expect the Englishman to perform anything like the Italian maestro, especially because they’re very different players. The comparisons have likely stemmed from the fact that Morton operates at the base of midfield where he’s able to get on the ball and dictate play, but other than that I don’t see much resemblance. Morton is a lot more assured on the defensive end but he can’t pass a football half as well as Pirlo, but then again, who can?

In the first two games of the season, Morton has operated as the deepest player in a midfield pivot, where he has the license to drop between the centre-backs in possession. He’s the classy type of defensive midfielder that England don’t often produce. His skillset puts emphasis on making the ball do the work rather than constantly sprinting up and down the pitch like some of his countrymen. Morton has no trouble receiving the ball under pressure and likes to do everything in as minimal touches as possible, a pivotal skill for any number 6. He keeps his passes relatively simple, perhaps due to a coach's instructions to keep possession or because he himself prefers to not to take the risks of unnecessarily turning the ball over. But make no mistake, he’s also got the vision and acumen to play those defense-splitting through balls into the frontline when needs be as his wand of a right foot allows him to pull off passes that many others can’t and makes him a real threat from set-pieces.

Defensively, Morton also impresses me with his aggressiveness and reading of the game. He is very switched on when his team don’t have the ball and it often leads to him being a split second ahead of his opponent to second balls and winning those 50/50 duels. He’s energetic and is keen to win the ball back quickly, despite this front-footedness he rarely gives away fouls which is testament to his reading of the game and tackling ability. Playing for a Lyon side who don’t dominate possession, his ability to win the possession to then quickly spring a counter-attack is tailor-made for Paulo Fonseca’s football and will make him a key player in this side, if he isn’t already.

In Lyon’s first game against Lens, he won more tackles than anyone else and in the second game against Metz, he created the most chances on the pitch and won man-of-the-match. 2 games and Morton has already displayed his excellence on both sides of the ball and with a huge game against Marseille being next on the agenda, another impressive performance may prove that this isn’t Tyler Morton just playing out of his skin in a new side, this is the bassline which he can only improve on and Liverpool may begin to regret selling him without a buy-back clause.

When you look at the Liverpool squad, it won’t take you long to realise they have holes in defensive midfield. Especially with the way Slot looks like he wants to set up his team this season with a huge emphasis on attacking, having a defensively-minded number 6 who can come in and stop the countless fast-breaks that they’re bound to face, certainly wouldn’t go amiss. When you consider that Gravenberch, although he immensely impressed there last season, isn’t really a holding midfielder and that his backup consists of injury-prone Stefan Bajcetic; teenage and inexperienced Trey Nyoni and the unfancied Waturo Endo, Liverpool are extremely light in this position if they want to be competing on all fronts again.

Tyler Morton was more than ready to fill in and become a more than capable backup to Gravenberch, but it appears that he’ll never get the chance. Perhaps Liverpool are convinced that Bajcetic will be back to his best when he returns to fitness and Curtis Jones and Nyoni will be able to fill in when they have to, but these are huge risks that I wouldn’t normally associate with The Reds’ recruitment team.

There’s a chance that Gravenberch has another injury-free season and maintains his elite of 24/25, but there’s also a possibility that one large spell on the sidelines and all of a sudden Liverpool’s midfield looks very vulnerable, protecting a backline that has already looked questionable at the start of the season.

As I said at the beginning of this article, Liverpool don’t really get things massively wrong on the transfer side of things but the sale of Tyler Morton, a very talented player who would give Liverpool some quality depth in midfield and much needed defensive assuredness, may be one mistake they may have made.

A lot of things can happen between now and the end of the season, but if Morton continues in a similar vein to which he started this campaign, we’ll be looking at a midfielder that’ll be linked to big moves back to England in no time and Liverpool fans will cringe at the thought of knowing he once resided in Merseyside.

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