Trey Nyoni Player Profile: Liverpool FC | OneFootball

One of Liverpool Football Club’s standout achievements in the history of the club has been the ability to bring through young players. Names like Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman and Trent Alexander-Arnold all spring to mind as being talented players who were able to make a career for themselves with their local club.

In recent years, though, the Academy has moved to ensure that those from further afield can also become part of the conversation, which is why the likes of Michael Owen and Raheem Sterling went on to have such glittering careers.

Whilst it would be something of a utopia to demand that every player that plays for every club comes from within a 15 mile radius of the club’s home stadium, the reality is that football is a global sport and players come from all over the place to make a team such as Liverpool the success that it is.

It is with that kind of thinking in mind that Liverpool moved to bring Treymaurice Nyoni to Anfield from Leicester City in 2023, believing that the midfielder had real promise and could go on to have a successful career with the Reds.

Who is Trey Nyoni?

Treymaurice Nyoni, better known as ‘Trey’, was born on the 30th of June 2007 in Leicester. His parents were from Zimbabwe, with Trey joining the Leicester City Academy at a young age. He was later joined there by his younger brother Reece, although the two weren’t together there long before Trey was snapped up by Liverpool.

He had played with the Foxes’ Under-18s side when he was 15-years-old, scoring twice in 13 appearances during the 2022-2023 season. That was enough to earn Liverpool’s attention, who signed him in the September of 2023.

Although the fact that his parents are from Zimbabwe means that Nyoni is eligible to play for them, the fact that he was born in England means that he’s also entitled to play for the Three Lions. That is what he decided to do when he lined up for the Under-16s in the August of 2022, scoring and getting an assist on his debut in a 3-2 win over Italy.

Since then he has made his way through the age groups, playing in a 2-1 win over the Czech Republic for the Under-18s and helping the Under-19s to a win over Bulgaria in the November of 2024.

A Talented Midfielder

When Liverpool signed Trey Nyoni from Leicester City to play in the club’s Academy, the two former Premier League champions couldn’t agree on a fee and so one was set by a tribunal. The Reds looked to give him his debut for the Under-21s in a Premier League 2 game, also playing in the EFL Trophy.

Such was the extent to which he made a good impression that he featured on the bench for the Liverpool first team’s 3-0 home win over Brentford on the 12th of November, although he was not brought on during the match.

Nyoni did make his debut at the end of February 2024, replacing Harvey Elliott in an FA Cup tie against Southampton that the Reds also won 3-0. That made him the youngest player ever to appear in the competition for Liverpool at the age of 16 years and 243 days.

It was enough to persuade the club to give the midfielder his first professional contract, which he signed on the 15th of October 2024. A few months later he was included in the first team squad for a Champions League tie against PSV Eindhoven, also being named amongst the match day substitutes.

When he came on to replace Andy Robertson in the second-half, Nyoni became the club’s youngest ever player in European Competition at the age of 17 years and 213 days, beating the record set by Phil Charnock in the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1992 by two days.

Thought of as a number eight, Nyoni has good balance and can play with both feet. He has drawn comparisons with Paul Pogba at a similar age thanks to his ‘confidence and composure’ and the fact that he is a tall, skilful player with a slender build and good football intelligence.