A Liverpool player signed by Jurgen Klopp in 2018 is still yet to make his first team debut – five years after first joining the Merseyside club.
Klopp has had a good success rate when it comes to transfers throughout his Liverpool tenure, with Virgil van Dijk, Alisson, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah among those to play a key role for the Reds over recent seasons.
There have, of course, been deals that simply haven’t worked out, including the £52m signing of Naby Keita, who will leave the club on a free transfer when his contract expires at the end of the month.
In addition to big-money signings, Klopp has also focused on signing younger talent, with Fabio Carvalho, Harvey Elliott and Stefan Bajcetic all brought to Anfield during the German’s stewardship.
But while all three of those players contributed to differing extents last season, another young player is still waiting for his debut.
In 2018, Liverpool completed the signing of defender Anderson Arroyo from Colombian side Fortaleza after he impressed at the U20s South American Youth Championship.
Remarkably, the defender still remains at Liverpool but is yet to make his competitive debut, having spent time out on loan at a number of clubs.
The 23-year-old, who can play at centre-back and right-back, moved to La Liga 2 side Mallorca on an 18-month loan deal after joining the Reds. He was assigned to the B team during his spell at the club.
That deal was cancelled soon after, with the defender joining Belgian giants Gent. However, he did not make an appearance for the club.
Further loan spells followed at Czech Republic side Mlada Boleslav, Spanish third tier club Salamanca. He then moved up a division in Spain for the 2021/22 season, joining Mirandes.
It came as something of a surprise to see the defender sign a new contract at Liverpool until 2025 last summer.
He then joined Spanish second division side Alaves on loan and has made 22 appearances for the club. He could help them secure promotion back to La Liga if they beat Levante in the play-off final second leg on Saturday, with the two-legged tie level at 0-0.
The reason why Arroyo has been sent out on so many successive loans is because he is yet to receive a work permit to play in England.
However, Liverpool.com claim that he can earn one should he play in La Liga next season or break into the Colombia national team.
Therefore, Liverpool will no doubt be rooting for an Alaves victory over Levante this weekend.
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