Liverpool centre-back Ifeanyi Ndukwe unable to play for first team this season

Saturday night saw Liverpool claim a 4-2 victory over Sunderland in Nashville in their first pre-season friendly of the summer.

Ndukwe was named on the bench by Liverpool’s new manager Andoni Iraola, but was called into action in the 10th minute as he replaced Joe Gomez, who suffered an injury in the early minutes of the contest.

The 18-year-old went on to put in an impressive performance for the Reds and certainly caught the eye of supporters, particularly with the lack of senior options currently available in the squad.

However, Iraola will not be able to have Ndukwe at his disposal in the Premier League in the forthcoming season due to work permit reasons.

Ndukwe does not have the required number of points on his work permit to play for Liverpool’s first team this upcoming campaign, as first reported by The Athletic. As a result, Liverpool will be expected to loan Ndukwe out for the upcoming season in order to get some regular first-team minutes.

Liverpool signed Ndukwe from Austria Vienna back in January in a deal reported to be worth around £2.5million, but the teenager did not officially make the switch to Anfield until this summer.

Ndukwe will be expected to continue to have a role to play at Liverpool during pre-season, but it remains to be seen whether or not the young defender will complete a loan move away from Merseyside over the next few weeks.

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Austria Vienna sporting director Michael Wagner stated at the time why Ndukwe’s move to Liverpool was beneficial for both clubs.

He said: "It is a great honour that one of the world's best football clubs has shown interest in one of our home-grown players. The agreement with Liverpool FC is structured in such a way that Austria Vienna will come out well in any scenario, regardless of whether the option is exercised or not.

"For me, this is a clear win-win situation for both clubs. Above all, this story is a great tribute to the excellent work that is done in our academy every day. We have a number of players here with enormous potential, which we want to exploit even more in future and thus become a springboard for talented players into Europe's top leagues – Austria Vienna is the right club for this.

"We were aware that there would be a lot of interest in our three U17 team players in particular after they reached the World Cup final.

"Basically, our goal is for our talented players to first establish themselves in the first team and thus recommend themselves for higher tasks.

"In this case, the overall package – both Liverpool FC's offer to Austria and the prospects for Ifeanyi Ndukwe – was a perfect fit for everyone involved."

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