Liverpool under-21 head coach Rob Page heaped praise on Mor Talla Ndiaye after the young defender made his debut for the Reds’ academy team on Monday night.
The Merseyside club signed the 18-year-old in January off the back of his impressive performances for Senegal at the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar in the latter weeks of 2025, and he was among a clutch of young centre-back acquisitions that month which also included Jeremy Jacquet, Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Noah Adekoya.
Ndiaye came off the bench for the final 27 minutes of the under-21s’ 2-0 defeat to their Manchester City counterparts on Monday, with the match also seeing another gutting injury blow for Jayden Danns.
Page spoke to The Redmen TV after full-time, and he was delighted with how the Senegalese defender performed on his first Liverpool appearance.
The Reds’ under-21 boss said: “I’m really pleased with Mor. I can only imagine the transition going from where he’s been, the teams he’s played for, to coming into this environment, and he’s done it with absolute class. He deserved that tonight. He’s given a great account of himself.”
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Although Ndiaye was unable to prevent his team from suffering their first defeat of 2026, they didn’t concede while he was on the pitch against Man City, and Page’s post-match verdict would suggest that he acquitted himself commendably on his debut for the under-21s.
The 18-year-old will now be hoping to build on that promising display throughout the remainder of the season and potentially even travel with the first-team squad for the pre-season tour to the United States.
It’ll obviously be a while yet before the Senegalese starlet is deemed ready to play in a competitive senior fixture for Liverpool, but he’ll have seen how the progression of other academy gems at the club that there is an achieavable pathway for those who are deemed good enough.
Ndiaye’s first steps in English football appear to have gone well, and while he’s only starting out on his footballing journey for now, hopefully it can take him to lofty heights for the Reds in future years.
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