Liverpool and Manchester United are reportedly considering a move for 16-year-old Derby County attacking midfielder Kaide Gordon.
According to Sky Sports reporter Rob Dorsett on Twitter, Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and Manchester United are both monitoring Derby County youth prospect Kaide Gordon, who has been hailed as the “best 16-year-old in the country.”
Having come through the youth ranks at Derby County, Gordon, 16, has broken into the club’s Under-18 setup, making eight appearances till date, in which he has scored three goals and set up two more.
The versatile attacking midfielder was named the Rams’ Academy Player of the Year for last season and broke into the first-team this term, making a one-minute cameo in the 4-0 win over Birmingham City last month. He was among the substitutes in Derby County’s 1-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on New Years Day.
Gordon, who also has two caps for the England Under-16 side, has been hailed as “one of the best” youngsters at the club by Derby County manager and Manchester United legend Wayne Rooney.
“I brought Kaide up with the first-team initially to train with us for a week to see how he reacted to it, and he was one of the best trainers. I kept him with us for a couple of weeks and he’s been training at the same level if not to a better level to a lot of the other [first-team] players,” the Rams’ boss had said.
Derby County’s financial problems due to the pandemic have meant that the club could be forced to offload some of the young players in order to generate short-term cash flow. And Gordon could be one among the players that could leave in the next couple of weeks, amid interest from both Liverpool and Manchester United.
Liverpool have been focusing on strengthening their youth ranks and have added some exciting talents in the form of Stefan Bajcetic, who was also courted by Manchester United and Callum Scanlon in recent months. The Reds already have some exciting young talents coming through the academy and could look to further bolster the setup with Gordon.
#dcfc youngster Kaide Gordon being closely monitored by #lfc and #mufc among others. Described as “the best 16yr old in the country” and by Wayne Rooney as “one of our best” he’s expected to leave Derby for a seven-figure sum plus sell on clauses, in the next fortnight. See #ssn
— Rob Dorsett (@RobDorsettSky) January 14, 2021
Manchester United, too, have also been heavily recruiting youth players over the past year. The summer saw the Red Devils bring in some exciting talents such as the likes of Alvaro Fernandez, Marc Jurado, Joe Hugill, Isak Hansen-Aaroen and Willy Kambwala among others.
More recently, the club also brought in teenage defender Jack Kingdon. With former striker and the club’s all-time leading goalscorer speaking in glowing terms of Gordon, Manchester United are now considering a swoop for him.
The update from Dorsett claims that the 16-year-old is likely to command a seven-figure transfer fee plus sell-on clauses. It will be interesting to see who among Liverpool and Manchester United come out on top in the race for the teenage prospect.
