He might not be treated to a clinic from one of his big-hitters like Harry Kane or Jude Bellingham or Cole Palmer — but new England manager Thomas Tuchel could gain some valuable insight by taking a pew at Anfield on Tuesday.
He will take charge of his first Three Lions match two months from Tuesday — at home to Albania — and there are plenty of England fringe players that could get minutes as Liverpool take on French side Lille looking to confirm their Champions League top-eight spot.
One of those was the wildcard pick of Lee Carsley’s short-but-sweet reign as boss: Angel Gomes. The Manchester United academy product would likely have dreamt about taking on Liverpool at Anfield many times as a boy — but perhaps not in Lille colours.
United fans will perhaps yearn for what could have been. Gomes is a technically gifted midfielder, skilled on the ball but also tactically astute out of possession — exactly what Ruben Amorim’s beleaguered team have long missed.
He was recently in England, on a training camp at Ashton United with well-respected personal coach Ryan Hopper, alongside Jesse Lingard and United women’s player Gabby George. Gomes, 24, rocked up to that session in a Lille jumper and England tracksuit bottoms.
It shows his willingness to keep learning and improving his fitness, given he was on a two-week winter break in France. While he is only 5ft 6in, he makes up for it with his brain and has namechecked fellow diminutive stars Andres Iniesta and Bernardo Silva as inspirations.
Lille star Angel Gomes will be hoping to impress in his visit to Anfield on Tuesday evening
The 24-year-old will want to nail down an England place after making his debut last year
He is flourishing at Lille, racking up 130 appearances, and it feels like United may have let a potential homegrown hero slip away. Coming on for Wayne Rooney in May 2017, he became the first player born in the 2000s to appear in the top flight as well as United’s youngest debutant since Duncan Edwards.
‘It’s not something I wanted,’ he said about the ‘wonderkid’ tag that followed him after that day at Old Trafford. He has found his feet now and former Lille boss Paulo Fonseca once called him ‘the most intelligent player’ he had ever seen.
Liverpool’s Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are also on the periphery of the England squad. Jones in particular feels like a shoo-in for Tuchel’s first selection given he has the box-to-box, energetic style that the German likes.
Liverpool will be without striker Diogo Jota for the visit of the French team. Jota has ‘overloaded’ a muscle, according to boss Arne Slot, which comes after he recently recovered from a two-month lay-off with a separate issue.
