He made his first-team debut at Fulham at the tender age of 15 and moved to Liverpool at 16. He experienced first-team football up close and personal during Jurgen Klopp’s reign, and after a year on loan he made the leap and played a lot of games as a midfielder afterwards.
However, his playing time declined under Arne Slot. Despite missing the first half of the season through injury, he has yet to start a Premier League game, and is still not a highly trusted player by the Dutch boss.
The England U-21 midfielder is facing a difficult reality as a professional footballer, but he has been getting a lot of game time and has developed an air of maturity, saying that he has to respect the situation surrounding the team and the decisions made by the coach.
“I’ve already played almost 150 games for Liverpool [137] and I feel like I’m very experienced in that aspect.”
“So there are moments within the season where I am getting angry, I am getting frustrated because I want to play, but at the same time I need to respect the situation and I need to respect the manager’s decisions.”
“Some games I’m needed, some games I’m not. That’s just how football is. That’s why I feel we’re in the position that we are in this season so far because of his decisions.”
“PSG was another one where it worked in our favour. Luckily I was the chosen one, you could say, to come in and get the match-winner.”
“We all need to be ready, it’s just not me and it’s just not the lads that are starting frequently. We’re all going to play our part, it’s just about staying ready.”
The Guardian