{"id":14119,"date":"2025-07-22T19:15:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/14119\/"},"modified":"2025-07-22T19:15:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T19:15:09","slug":"liverpool-midfielder-to-sign-contract-and-leave-on-loan-after-asia-tour-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/14119\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool midfielder to sign contract and leave on loan after Asia tour – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool have made a decision on the future of utility youngster Luca Stephenson<\/a>, who is set to sign a new contract after the pre-season tour of Asia.<\/p>\n

It was a busy weekend for Stephenson, who started for the U21s in their 8-0 friendly win over Celtic<\/a> on Saturday before turning out for the first team in a 5-0 victory over Stoke<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Hours after his involvement in that behind-closed-doors game, the 21-year-old boarded the flight to Hong Kong ahead of involvement in two warmup fixtures in Asia.<\/p>\n

Stephenson\u2019s inclusion in the touring squad may have come as a surprise, but the versatile academy graduate is clearly a favourite of Arne Slot<\/a>\u2018s.<\/p>\n

While that may not result in a senior role at Liverpool this season, The Athletic<\/a>\u2018s Gregg Evans reports that there are still plans in place for the future.<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

With his current deal due to expire next summer, Stephenson is set to sign a new long-term contract after the return from tour before departing on loan.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool see the value of monitoring the 21-year-old\u2019s progress for at least another campaign,\u201d Evans writes.<\/p>\n

Though his destination is as yet unknown, Dundee United are among the clubs interested<\/a> having seen Stephenson win their Young Player of the Season while on loan at Tannadice last term.<\/p>\n

It is likely that Liverpool will look for a step up in quality for their No. 91, however, particularly if there are designs on testing him as a first-team option.<\/p>\n

This summer was seen as a decisive one for Stephenson one way or another, as the club would almost certainly have looked to sell if he was deemed to have no future in the senior setup.<\/p>\n

\"PHILADELPHIA<\/p>\n

While a new contract is a prerequisite to a loan move, avoiding a free transfer situation next summer, Evans\u2019 report at least suggests it could be intended to tie down a talent with first-team prospects.<\/p>\n

Slot seemingly values Stephenson\u2019s ability to play in a variety of positions, as though he is a natural midfielder the head coach has already used him at right-back and centre-back.<\/p>\n

In the friendly win against Stoke, he could even be seen in an advanced position almost as a No. 10, which saw him go close to scoring after a cutback from Jeremie Frimpong<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liverpool would likely prefer a loan move in either the Championship or perhaps abroad as Stephenson\u2019s next challenge \u2013 and developments are likely in early August.<\/p>\n

* You can follow all Liverpool\u2019s pre-season friendlies live with All Red Video<\/a>, the new video offering from the club that replaces LFCTV. Purchase All Red Video here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool have made a decision on the future of utility youngster Luca Stephenson, who is set to sign…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14120,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,63,596,7886,85],"class_list":["post-14119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-football","tag-liverpool-fc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14119\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}