
Morton looks to England to repair damaged confidence
Tyler Morton is repairing his confidence with the England Under-21s after the toughest season of his career. The Liverpool midfielder has helped the Young Lions reach the semi-finals of Euro 2025 after Saturday's 3-1 win over Spain. Morton, though, will miss Wednesday's meeting with the Netherlands in Bratislava after collecting his second yellow card of the tournament.International success would come off the back of a frustrating campaign for the 22-year-old, who did not make a Premier League appearance as Liverpool won the title. He was restricted to just five appearances in cup competitions under Arne Slot.Morton said: "When you're not playing, your confidence gets shut down a little bit. So, it's nice to come back and play here and play with unbelievable footballers, unbelievable youngsters."It's been the toughest season mentally for me. Obviously, I've coped with it very well because I've got good people around me, but it's been very tough. I think I've coped with it as well as I possibly could."I think when you're not playing as a footballer who's as hungry as I am, it does hurt. It's tough, especially when, in my opinion, I wanted to go out and I wanted to play and I wanted to go on loan and get my game time."But having chatted with the manager, having to stay, it could have worked out a lot worse than it did. It probably could have worked out a lot better than it did."Under-21 and Liverpool team-mate Harvey Elliott made just two league starts last season - and has admitted he needs to consider his future at Anfield - while Jarell Quansah only started four league games. Liverpool opted to keep Morton after Middlesbrough had a bid rejected in February but he has kept an open mind about the campaign. "Yes, the minutes have been very limited for all of us youngsters this year," he said. "But there's different playing styles with different managers. Yes, it's been a learning season. I think you've got to have these types of seasons where you're trying to learn."
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