Liverpool teenage winger Josh Abe has suffered an injury setback after a breakthrough summer with both the Academy and the first team. The 16-year-old, who has been at the club since the age of four, dislocated his shoulder and now faces a spell on the sidelines.
Breakthrough summer cut short
Abe was being pursued by a number of European heavyweights before committing his long-term future to the Reds in June. He was subsequently part of Andoni Iraola's senior side on the United States tour and appeared in the friendlies against Sunderland and Wrexham, later scoring on his first under-21s appearance in a friendly against Huddersfield Town.
Having featured in Liverpool's U18 Premier League North loss at Manchester City last weekend, Abe now faces a spell out after suffering the shoulder injury.
Page confirms injury details
"He dislocated his shoulder," said U21s head coach Rob Page. "It popped out and popped back in again. Apparently, he has had this problem for a while, so it's nothing major. It's just something that he is having to go through. He's got his arm in a sling as a precaution and we'll wait and see what happens."
With Abe unavailable, Liverpool U21s began their Premier League 2 campaign with a hard-earned 1-1 draw in the mini-derby against Everton at Goodison. Both sides ended the game with 10 men, with Reds goalkeeper Harvey Davies dismissed on 87 minutes for a professional foul and Everton forward Braiden Graham following in injury time after a melee.
Page praises resilience in derby draw
Of the game, Page said: "It was a feisty one. It was a typical derby game. I'm proud of the boys for showing resilience. They had to dig in down to 10 men at the end of the game."
"From a performance point of view, we are disappointed. There's things we'll look back on and try to correct. We went with a different formation - we went with a 4-4-2 because we had Figgy (Keyrol Figueroa) and Will available. We couldn't really get an overload to start with in the middle to play through, but when we addressed it at half-time, we said about switching play and then the space will open up. That helped us a bit in the second half."
"Overall, pleased with a point considering the circumstances, and really pleased with their attitude. We've picked up a couple of knocks but it's a local derby with two teams who were at it."
With Liverpool having made their permitted number of substitutions before Davies's dismissal, 18-year-old centre-back Mor Talla Ndiaye was compelled to don the gloves and finish the game in goal. "Mor had played in goal before, and you just couldn't love that man any more!" said Page. "He is an outstanding character, and what a signing he is. He was excellent in the game anyway. His passing and his reading of the game, knowing when to dribble out, was exceptional - and his defending."
Ndiaye had one save to make during the closing stages, and Page added: "The technique was awful, but as a centre-half, we'll let him off for that one! It was a good save by him. His goal kicks put our keepers to shame. We've just told them all that. He's going to be taking goal kicks from now on."
