Liverpool wonderkid Kaide Gordon signs first professional deal

Robin Bairner

• 8 Oct 2021 21:26 BST
• 6 min read

Liverpool have moved to secure the future of young winger Kaide Gordon, who has signed his first professional deal with the Anfield club.

The 17-year-old joined the Reds from Derby County in January and caught the eye during pre-season training camps in Austria and France.

Gordon has since gone on to make his full Liverpool debut, featuring in a 3-0 League Cup victory over Norwich in September.

Liverpool confirm Gordon deal

The club said in a statement: “Kaide Gordon has signed his first professional contract with Liverpool FC.

“The 17-year-old joined the Reds at the start of this year after 10 years at his hometown club of Derby County.

“A talented wide player with pace and skill, he often starts wide on the right, where he can cut in on his left foot.

“He began his Liverpool career with the U18s squad before scoring for the U23s on his debut in Premier League 2 away at Leicester City in May.

“The England youth international spent pre-season with Jurgen Klopp’s first-team squad before rejoining Barry Lewtas’ U23s and scoring in the Merseyside derby win over Everton in August.

“Gordon then made his senior debut in the Carabao Cup victory at Norwich City last month.”

Jurgen Klopp on Kaide Gordon

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has previously spoken highly of Gordon.

Following the Norwich fixture, in which the teenager played the full 90 minutes, the manager said: “Kaide is good, and has a lot of things to improve, a lot of things to settle, a lot of things to learn, but a lot of things are already there.

“We are really happy to have him around and we will treat him carefully. I’m really happy that he is here, he is a big talent.

“The first thing that Kaide said to me after the game, when I wanted to say ‘congratulations’, he said ‘thank you!’.

“But there was nothing to be thankful about, he deserved it. It’s all fine, these boys are good and thank God they are ours.”

Meanwhile, assistant boss Pep Lijnders has been taken by Gordon’s hunger for goals.

“He has a goal in him and he has this natural ability to be in the box between the goalposts to score, even when the cross comes from the other side, and not many talents have that,” he said.

“They maybe have dribbling skills but they don’t have this desire to shoot and come in the box to score.

“He is a typical Liverpool Football Club winger in my opinion because he has goals, he has speed. We really like him and we’re really happy he’s with us.”

Gordon will be optimistic of more game time for Liverpool in the near future, notably when the Reds meet Preston in the League Cup on 27 October.