Paul Glatzel is continuing to work to his way to full fitness and could be loaned out by Liverpool for the second season in succession in the weeks ahead.
The 21-year-old spent last season on loan at Tranmere Rovers, scoring six goals in all competitions for Micky Mellon's side, but constant injury setbacks prevented the young forward from developing any kind of rhythm within the first-team.
There has been no let-up for the young forward when it comes to unwanted spells on the sidelines during his early career, though a new season is on the horizon as he goes in search of an injury-free campaign to get back on track.
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Glatzel rose to prominence during the 2018/19 campaign after his formidable strike partnership formed with Bobby Duncan fired the Liverpool under-18s to FA Youth Cup glory and was rewarded for his 28-goal campaign by being included in Jurgen Klopp's 2019 pre-season plans. He now has one year remaining on his contract with the Reds, which could well be spent away from Anfield.
Left out of the Liverpool under-21s squad that secured a 3-1 friendly win over Kidderminster Harriers on Friday evening, manager Barry Lewtas explained after the match another loan move could be on the horizon as he works his way back to full fitness.
"At the moment, he has been training a little bit and doing a bit of fitness work," Lewtas told the ECHO of Glatzel. "We will see where we are with that one. Paul is still a Liverpool player. He picked up an injury at the end of last season, so it is about making sure he is ready to go when he is right. He is all good."
"Potentially," added Lewtas on the prospect of a temporary switch being on the cards for the upcoming campaign. "It is always difficult for me to say about these things. Paul, I thought, did extremely well at Tranmere. He scored goals when he played, certainly down the middle, and I thought his development at Tranmere was excellent. Let's see where that goes.
"Tranmere is a real good club and is on the doorstep. It's well-managed, it's well-run. We've seen Paul do well there last year so it's about the right fit and I'm sure they want to pick the right players for them and we want to make sure our players go to the right club as well. Tranmere worked great for Paul, so I'm sure from a club point of view, there's always been a fantastic relationship with Tranmere. The Liverpool Women play at Prenton Park, so there will always be that relationship."
Tranmere themselves appear open to the idea of welcoming back Glatzel to Prenton Park for a second spell as indicated to the ECHO by the Whites' sporting director, James Vaughan, in a recent interview. "Paul was very good for us, but he was very unlucky with his injuries. He is someone we rate highly. It's hard to say where he's going to be with his injury - we don't know where that's at," said the ex-Everton striker.
Liverpool have already loaned out the likes of Adam Lewis, James Balagizi and Owen Beck at Academy level and Lewtas expects others to follow suit. Discussing whether the Reds are open to allowing individuals to seek experience elsewhere during the 22/23 season, the Reds' boss said: "Yeah, potentially, Let's watch this space with that. If the right opportunity comes, we will certainly be trying to get boys where we think they are best fitted. For some of our boys, a loan probably is the next step so it is making sure we get the right move for them.
"We are always really open around it and not too fixed. We have a real clear idea of how we want to try and develop them and it's just about making the right decisions at the right time. They feel part of the group and it's just about part of the journey. I wouldn't know [if there have been any enquiries for players]. I'm sure things will materialise as it goes along, but it is still very early in pre-season and let's see what happens."
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