What Liverpool staff are saying behind the scenes about Tyler Morton’s exit

Liverpool’s decision to sanction Tyler Morton’s summer 2025 move to Lyon is reverberating through the AXA Training Centre, with club insiders now questioning whether the departure has quietly eroded the squad’s competitive edge.

Morton, 22, has wasted no time proving his worth in Ligue 1, anchoring Lyon’s midfield in the so-called “Casemiro role” and earning rave reviews after a string of dominant displays. His form has already attracted winter-window enquiries from Premier League clubs, yet back at Melwood the mood is one of regret rather than celebration.

Speaking on the Walk On podcast this week, journalist Simon Hughes revealed that senior staff believe the exits of Morton and fellow academy graduate Harvey Elliott have left a void bigger than their combined minutes under Arne Slot. “I was speaking to somebody at the club recently,” Hughes said. “The impact of losing players like Harvey Elliott, Tyler Morton, one or two other younger players who were very used to the training standards at Liverpool… they helped raise the standards of training, the mood around the club.”

The admission is striking because Morton started only cup ties and sporadic league fixtures last season. Internally, however, his reliability and intensity in sessions had turned him into an unofficial benchmark for the younger cohort. Without that daily reference point, sources say standards have slipped and morale has flattened, contributing to what Wayne Rooney recently labelled Liverpool’s “big problem” in midfield.

Morton himself has offered a measured but telling assessment of his final months on Merseyside. “I think he [Slot] thought I was a good player, but I don’t feel the trust was there as much,” the midfielder told reporters in France. “In my opinion, the limited opportunities were down to trust and not ability. When I got my opportunity in the cup, I felt like I played well… I personally disagreed with the limited amount of game time I got last season, but that was out of my control.”

The comments underline a lingering frustration inside the dressing room: a belief that a home-grown, defensive-minded midfielder who understood Liverpool’s culture was allowed to leave just as the squad’s engine room began to look thin beyond Wataru Endo. With Morton now excelling abroad and English clubs circling, Liverpool staff are left to wonder whether a low-key sale has cost them far more than they anticipated.

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