Liverpool record breaker 'on brink' of Championship move as debut pencilled in for Sheffield United trip
Liverpool are set to sanction one of their first deadline day deals with a loan exit
Liverpool youngster Kaide Gordon is reportedly poised for a move to Championship outfit Portsmouth as he gets set to finalise a loan move to the south coast before the 11pm transfer deadline.
Gordon spent the first half of the season with second-tier side Norwich City but started just one Championship game and was recalled by the Reds in early January. The plan had been to find a new club for the forward, with Pompey the team who have agreed a deal.
According to The Athletic, Gordon is on the brink of a move to Fratton Park as Pompey battle for Championship survival. John Mousinho’s side are 20th in the table and three points above the bottom three. Gordon’s debut could be as soon as Saturday as Pompey make the trip to South Yorkshire to take on promotion-chasing Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.
Gordon holds Liverpool record
Gordon has been training with Liverpool’s Under-21s in recent weeks but he has made seven senior appearances for the Reds. He scored his only senior goal for Liverpool in a 4-1 win over Shrewsbury Town in the FA Cup in January 2022 to become the club’s youngest goal-scorer in FA Cup history. He was aged 17, three months and four days when he found the net.
He is the second youngest goalscorer in the entire history of the club, with Ben Woodburn holding the title of youngster scorer following a goal against Leeds United in the League Cup in November 2016 - the Welsh international was aged 17, one month and 14 days when he scored his record-breaking goal. Injury then halted Gordon’s exciting progress at Anfield as he spent 18 months out of action with a serious of issues.
“So we were really unlucky with some of our big, big prospects,” said former manager Jurgen Klopp just over 12 months ago. “We had that problem that they were a little bit too good already for the physical status, let me say it like that. So they were that good that we thought they could help us already and everybody went in the right direction, and then the body said ‘no, stop’. And that happened to Kaide unfortunately two or three times. It was a really long time out.”
Gordon discusses return
Given his previous problems with injury, Liverpool are keen for Gordon to get more game time as he made just 10 Championship appearances for Norwich before his recall. Gordon was with Liverpool for their pre-season tour of the USA.
He told the Liverpool website in July: "It has been good, a different experience obviously with a new coach. But it's good to get away with the lads and I've enjoyed it so far, it's been good. It's my first [pre-season] in two years I think. Obviously I've been out for a while so it's just good to get back around it and get up to the rhythm, so I'm enjoying it. You don't realise when you're in it, how much you miss it when you're out of it, to be fair. Obviously it's just good to be back involved in it, to be honest."
On being sidelined, he added: "[It's] the hardest time, there's always ups and downs – you think you're coming back at a certain time and you get told no, it's longer. It's definitely the hardest time I've been through, but when you're coming towards the end of it, you start to feel like you can see the end of the tunnel. Now I'm back, it's just trying to stay back and keep involved with it all. 100 per cent [I feel stronger for it], because you're just by yourself. The lads are out training and you can see them training and it's obviously tough. But when you get back out there, you start to realise how much you miss it even more."