Will Wright continues to impress as Liverpool youngster pushes for first-team chance

Wright was included in Andoni Iraola’s senior squad for Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States, playing 45 minutes against Sunderland and 27 against Wrexham before featuring from the bench in both matches against Como.

“It was great,” Wright said. “What a great opportunity to play alongside those players. I loved every minute of it. I am so thankful to the gaffer for including me, starting me, and involving me in all the games.”

The forward has also been able to learn from Liverpool’s established stars, something he believes has shown him the level required to break into the senior side.

“I have got levels to improve but it shows where I have to get to, working around the likes of Alex (Isak) and Fede (Chiesa) and everyone like that,” he said.

“First touch, everything I can work on every day, and by watching them every day. It’s important for me to be able to look at them and know that’s the level I hopefully can get to if I want to play for Liverpool in the future.”

Wright has already made several senior matchday squads and scored his first competitive goal of the campaign in Liverpool Under-21s’ 1-1 draw with Everton at Goodison Park.

He then produced another standout moment this week in the EFL Trophy against Rochdale, scoring a superb solo goal after collecting the ball beyond halfway and weaving past defenders before curling into the net.

Liverpool U21 head coach Rob Page praised Wright’s performance despite the side playing with 10 men for 70 minutes.

“We’ve spoken about him every week for the goals, but he was a constant threat, wasn’t he?” Page said.

“That was the message at half-time, ‘I think they’ll have a little bit more respect for Will Wright after the first 45 minutes and they’ll be worried.’ Because he was a constant threat.”

Wright has since been nominated for September’s Premier League 2 Player of the Month award after scoring five goals and providing an assist in four appearances.

A senior debut remains one of his targets.

“A full debut would be great this season, obviously,” Wright said. “But I’ll be aiming to score over 10 goals in Premier League 2 and keep kicking on and doing as well as I can.”