Who is Tommy Pilling? The sensational midfielder set for Liverpool debut

Meet Tommy Pilling - Liverpool's latest midfielder who is set to make his debut for the first team.

The middle of the park is where the club's academy is renowned for producing elite talent. From Steven Gerrard to Curtis Jones and a plethora of other young players.

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The likes of James McConnell and Tyler Morton have caught the eye in recent years and both now play for major European clubs in Ajax and Lyon, respectively.

Pilling represents this new generation. Born in St Helens, he has been at the academy since he was five years old. Now 21-years-old, it's taken him a while to get to the stage where he is knocking on the first-team door, but he's a late developer.

Development is never linear in football. Some of the best players in the world made their professional debuts at a similar age.

Just look at Virgil van Dijk as an example.

Pilling has been a regular for the club's U21 side over the course of the last two seasons, and he's really taken his game to another level since the start of the current campaign.

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Who is Tommy Pilling?

Stepping up for the aforementioned McConnell, Pilling has become the key linchpin of the midfield under newly appointed head-coach Rob Page at U21 level.

He was a stand-out performer in Liverpool's EFL Trophy defeat against Burton Albion, winning 100% of his ground duels (4/4) and hardly putting a foot-wrong while anchoring a midfield alongside Jay Spearing.

In total, Pilling has won the most duels (26) for Liverpool's U21 side, which shows just how good he is when it comes to the defensive side of the game.

But that's not all, he's also very composed and technical on the ball. He's always looking to play forward averaging 7.5 passes into the opposition's final third so far this season.

Versatility is also another great strength of his. Over the course of his career in the U18s and U21s, Pilling has played as a holding, box-to-box and attacking midfielder.

He's even covered left-back and centre-back on rare occasions.

Tommy Pilling set for first-team debut

After the return of first team players from international duty, Pilling trained with Arne Slot's senior squad earlier this month replacing Curtis Jones, who was sidelined.

He was also part of the cohort of U21 players who made their senior debuts in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao back in August. Pilling played just over 20 minutes in that match, completed nine out of his 11 pass attempts, made 3 recoveries and won four out of five duels, including two out of two aerial duels.

It was an impressive cameo, and it must have left its mark on Slot.

Ahead of Liverpool's League Cup tie against Southampton, Pilling has again been called-up to train with the first team and missed Liverpool's U21 game against Manchester United on Sunday.

He's been called-up alongside Rhys Williams, Kieran Morrison, Jayden Danns and Kaide Gordon as confirmed by Page per Redmen.

With no involvement for Ryan Gravenberch nor Dominik Szoboszlai in this game, who will both be rested this will be an opportunity for Pilling to make his debut.

He'll have competition from Trey Nyoni, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Wataru Endo but given Slot plays with a three-men midfield there might just be room for Pilling to make a substitute appearance.

Either way, he's an extremely talented midfielder, so he's worth keeping an eye on.

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