Northern Ireland Under-19 winger Kieran Morrison has outlined his desire to make his first team debut for Liverpool and to move into the senior international squad as soon as possible.
And speaking to the Belfast Telegraph he has revealed how current first team Liverpool and Northern Ireland star Conor Bradley is an inspiration and strong influence on him.
Morrison showed flashes of brilliance coming off the bench for Northern Ireland on Sunday night in their 2-0 defeat against Norway at a sold-out Seaview that saw Gareth McAuley’s side exit the Under-19 European Championships.
Prior to that the 17-year-old had played in group games versus Ukraine (0-0) and Italy (0-3) having arrived in camp on the back of two training sessions with new Liverpool boss Arne Slot.
Morrison says there is a ‘positive vibe’ at the Merseyside club under the Dutchman who replaced Kop idol Jurgen Klopp in the summer.
In April Morrison, who joined the Anfield outfit from Manchester United when he was 14, signed his first professional contract with Liverpool.
Progressing well with the Reds and capable of playing in midfield or on the wing, the teenager played at Under-18 level last season and for the Under-21s in Premier League 2, the EFL Trophy and the Premier League International Cup scoring 13 goals and providing seven assists.
On his three year deal, Morrison said: “It was a massive thing. It shows that Liverpool want to keep me on and they trust me so yes that was very good for my confidence.”
Asked what his aspirations are for this season, he told this newspaper: “Hopefully I will get more games with the 21s, keep training with the first team and impress Arne Slot and try to get a debut.
“I trained with the new manager (Slot) for two days before coming over to play in the Under-19 tournament with Northern Ireland.
“Obviously Jurgen Klopp was a top manager and will be missed but everything comes to an end and we are trying to battle our way back to winning the Premier League so everyone has a positive mindset and there’s a good positive vibe around the new manager.
“Liverpool have gone to America for pre-season but hopefully after that I can keep training with the first team.
“I will try to do my best, keep progressing and hopefully get into the first team squad as soon as possible.”
Should Morrison achieve that aim he will join fellow Northern Ireland man Bradley, who last season excelled for the Reds and his country.
Quizzed on whether the Tyrone native, who recently turned 21, is an inspiration for what Morrison wants to do in the future, the Northern Ireland Under-19 player said: “Yeah, 100 percent. I always speak to Conor about Northern Ireland and he looks after me.
“He wants me to come up to the first team as quickly as I can for both Liverpool and Northern Ireland and hopefully I can do that soon.
“It’s massive to see what Conor is doing. I look up to him because as a player I want to do what he is doing and do it at the highest level like he can.”
Morrison, who is from Manchester, qualifies to play for Northern Ireland through his Newry grandmother.
He has a refreshing attitude when speaking post-match about games. Not one for spin, the youngster calls it how he sees it and admitted his frustration that McAuley’s side didn’t score in any of their three group games.
The home nation finished bottom of their section meaning they were eliminated from the competition before the knockout stages and didn’t make it into a play-off for Under-19 World Cup qualification.
Offering his overall thoughts on the campaign, Morrison said: “It’s not been the best. We thought we could have done better as a team and individually.
“In saying that I thought we were good against Norway but just unlucky we couldn’t score and gave away some cheap goals.
“It was very frustrating for us not to score in the tournament because you have to score to get through. We will need to do some practicing on our finishing when we get back to our clubs!”
The Liverpool player made the point, however, that playing in the finals had been a valuable experience.
“It has been a great experience going up against top, top players and it’s been a good standard,” he said.
“It has given me more understanding and experience of the game. I’ll take it back to Liverpool where we mostly only play English based clubs. To face sides like Norway and Italy and see how they play was a good learning experience so I’ll take that back to Liverpool and improve myself.”