Liverpool youth star Harvey Blair spotted in first-team training after three-year absence – report
Liverpool youth winger Harvey Blair has remained with the first-team in pre-season with others returning to the academy, according to This is Anfield.
Writing on their website (16 July), Blair will get an extended chance in pre-season to impress Arne Slot.
The 20-year-old made his debut and only first-team appearance three years ago in a 2-0 win away to Preston North End in the Carabao Cup.
Blair was amongst those spotted at the AXA Training Centre on Tuesday (16 July), as trio Andy Robertson, Dominik Szoboszlai, and Vitezslav Jaros returned from Euro 2024.
Will Slot promote Blair to Liverpool first-team for next season?
Slot has had the chance to assess the academy players in pre-season training, with most of the senior squad members away at Euro 2024 and Copa America.
Darwin Nunez, Cody Gakpo, Luis Diaz, and Diogo Jota are yet to return from international duty with Mohamed Salah the club’s only senior forward available.
The likes of Kaide Gordon and last season’s debutant Jayden Danns have also trained with the first-team but have not featured in every session since their call-up.
Blair has impressed Slot and is likely to travel to the USA with Jota the only senior forward who competed for his country this summer, expected to re-join the squad.
The return of Ben Doak has been at the centre of attention this summer, whilst Blair has been quietly playing himself into the first-team reckoning.
He has scored 17 goals and assisted six in 46 appearances across the youth setup for the Reds, but has struggled with injuries.
A knee injury sustained in July last year kept him on the sidelines for the first half of the season.
He had plenty of interest from sides in both England and Scotland before the injury and was denied a move again in the winter transfer window for fears of aggravating the injury with interest from Denmark and Belgium.
Blair is in the best position of all the academy forwards to impress Slot and will have to perform to the highest standard in the USA to give Slot a decision to make.
In other Liverpool news, a Reds starlet has been promoted to the Under-18s squad.
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