Layton Stewart admitted to being relieved to be back on the field after a 13-month hiatus due to injury.
An ACL injury sustained in March 2021 forced the youngster to be stretchered off the pitch and sadly he did not see a return until April next year.
As expected of Liverpool’s coaching staff, the now 20-year-old was not made to feel even vaguely isolated, though he did joke that perhaps some members of the coaching staff were “probably happy to see my back turned”.
“In the end it was 13 months out and it’s the hardest thing I’ve faced in my career so far,” the youngster told the club’s official website.
“I’ve never been injured, you see, so having such a big injury and having such a long period on the sidelines was difficult for me. But all the guys helped me, especially Tom Hill, who had the same injury, so I had him by my side.
“The staff, physios Paul Kelly, Scott McAuley and Tony Jones were brilliant with me and supportive throughout my injury, for which I will always be very grateful.
“To be fair, they were probably glad to see my back turned and away from the treatment table the number of questions I was asking them!”
Carrying bags of potential, there is more than an element of hope associated with the striker achieving grade at senior level, though whether it will be with Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool remains to be seen.
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It’s great to see the Academy star return to action on a regular basis after suffering such a significant setback early in his playing career.
Having spent some time training with the senior team, Stewart will have gotten a good taste of what life could be like for him on Merseyside on a regular basis if he can keep up his upward momentum.
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