READY FOR THE NEW SEASON?
Just 4 months ago, Stephenson, in the midst of a delayed playoff crusade, was loaned to Ligue 2 side AFC Barrow.
In his first season in professional football, the 20-year-old is already a regular for the Cumbria team.
Although injuries and failing to finish in the top six ended their crusade after 34 appearances, Stephenson’s tenure at Barrow can be considered a real success.
There may not be enough luck to prompt speculation about a role in the new era of Liverpool’s first team under head coach Slot.
But the flexible youngster, who joined the club from Sunderland in 2018, is one of 14 players to have featured in 4 of the Reds’ five pre-season friendlies, two of which included other groups on the same day.
Stephenson has logged more minutes on the court (106) than Stefan Bajcetic (86), Owen Beck (45) and Kaide Gordon (27), and Slot is starting to accept as true a player who has obviously turned heads in practice .
He did so as a right-back, rather than in his natural role as a midfielder, having already proven himself to be a valuable and useful player in his six years at the academy.
Despite being more in midfield, Stephenson has played other roles for Liverpool’s U21 and U18 levels, adding a season as a centre-back.
“That’s why he is the leader he is. Luca leads by example,” U21 coach Barry Lewtas said last year on the club’s official online page.
“Playing with Luca in central defense was all we needed as a team and he is in a position to step in and to be honest he is doing a fantastic job wherever he plays.
“Luca is a midfielder, I see him as a midfielder and he knows it, but Luca is helping us. “
This selfless attitude is mandatory for a team as competitive as Liverpool, especially as it can be seen that Stephenson did not have the advantage that others enjoyed before Slot’s appointment.
Having rarely trained with the senior team during Jurgen Klopp’s reign, there is now a strong case to be made that he could remain in the wider first-team ranks under Slot this season.
This is partly due to the circumstances: while others who were left out of the pre-season starting squad, such as Dominic Corness, James Norris and Tom Hill, would have occupied a superior position in the Premier League, Stephenson poses no such problem.
If he remains at Liverpool this season, he will be eligible as an under-21 player in the Premier League and Champions League, taking up valuable space.
But the maximum will be the quality and tenacity he has shown both in the formation and in the friendlies against Real Betis, Arsenal, Man United and Sevilla.
Faced with much more established wingers, Stephenson never gave up a challenge, showing himself aggressive and pushing towards the ball and moving down the right flank, regularly to line up with Mohamed Salah.
It’s a big step up from clashes with Walsall, Harrogate and Crawley in League Two, but it’s taking it in stride.
There is little danger at this level of Stephenson replacing Trent Alexander-Arnold and Conor Bradley in the right-back pecking order.
But as captain Virgil van Dijk noted on Sunday that “we make some signings depending on the length of the season”, he could be a useful option in the reserves.
It is foolish to question this as a role that Stephenson would even accept, but of course there will be talks about his footballing ambitions with the first team.
For a player who will only turn 21 in September, staying in the Slot Liverpool team for a long time is far from being a step aside or even a step back.
Only time will tell if Stephenson is expected to remain as part of the senior setup at Anfield or if a loan is in the works.
But at this point in the preseason thinking, it’s to be forgotten as the wonderful fairy tale of summer.
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