{"id":350039,"date":"2026-01-03T14:07:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:07:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/350039\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T14:07:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T14:07:09","slug":"james-mcconnell-liverpool-return-midfielder-hit-by-injury","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/350039\/","title":{"rendered":"James McConnell Liverpool Return: Midfielder Hit by Injury"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool midfielder James McConnell<\/a> has returned from his loan spell with Ajax after the deal was terminated, but he is unlikely to feature in the coming games.<\/p>\n

Though neither Liverpool nor Ajax have confirmed the agreement yet, McConnell has moved back to Merseyside after a frustrating half-season in Amsterdam.<\/p>\n

The decision to end the loan early comes as no surprise, but those hoping the 21-year-old can join Arne Slot<\/a>\u2018s Liverpool squad immediately may be disappointed.<\/p>\n

This Is Anfield understands McConnell is carrying an injury which will almost certainly keep him out of the upcoming games \u2013 including the visit of Barnsley in the FA Cup<\/a> third round on January 12.<\/p>\n

Why James McConnell is unlikely to play vs. Barnsley<\/p>\n

\"GIRONA,<\/p>\n

Slot will look to rotate wherever possible for that clash with League One opposition, but the head coach is short of options.<\/p>\n

Wataru Endo<\/a> remains sidelined, removing one of Liverpool\u2019s midfield options, while Stefan Bajcetic<\/a> is yet to be reintegrated following a long-term hamstring injury.<\/p>\n

McConnell could have been seen as the ideal stand-in for Ryan Gravenberch<\/a> against Barnsley, but instead Slot may need to turn to at least one of his regular starters.<\/p>\n

The nature of the youngster\u2019s injury is as yet unknown but Ajax cited fitness issues when leaving him out of their recent meetings with Groningen, Fortuna Sittard, Qarabag, Feyenoord, Excelsior Maassluis and NEC Nijmegen.<\/p>\n

James McConnell<\/a>: Ajax Loan Stats<\/p>\n

Competition
\nAppearances
\nStarts
\nMinutes<\/p>\n

Eredivisie
\n4
\n1
\n101<\/p>\n

Champions League
\n3
\n1
\n118<\/p>\n

Total
\n7
\n2
\n219<\/p>\n

\n The verdict:
McConnell averaged just 31 minutes per appearance at Ajax. After falling out of favour, a return to Anfield to reset is the best move for his development.\n <\/p>\n

Brought in by John Heitinga, who worked closely with him while Slot\u2019s assistant, McConnell saw his minutes reduce before failing to feature at all under Heitinga\u2019s replacement Fred Grim.<\/p>\n

He has not played at any level since Heitinga\u2019s final game in charge: a 3-0 defeat to Galatasaray in the Champions League<\/a> on November 5.<\/p>\n

Liverpool will await a return to fitness before assessing their options with McConnell towards the end of the January transfer window.<\/p>\n

\"3CKWMCR<\/p>\n

It is not guaranteed that he will leave on another loan but West Brom<\/a>, Derby, Oxford and Swansea have all been credited with an interest.<\/p>\n

Speaking upon his move to Ajax in August, McConnell expressed his desire<\/a> to grow as a player and help the cause for a team who saw the title slip from their grasp last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s obviously a big step in my career coming to a club like this, to have my first proper season in terms of playing and stuff,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it\u2019s great for all parties. The main thing is I want to come here and try help the team win, that\u2019s the only thing I\u2019m really thinking about, and hopefully it\u2019s the best thing for my career as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool midfielder James McConnell has returned from his loan spell with Ajax after the deal was terminated, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,71246,67683,101,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-350039","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-injuries","10":"tag-james-mcconnell","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom","14":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}