What Klopp and Rooney have said about City's Kaide Gordon

But the Liverpool winger is looking to take the next step of his development at Carrow Road whilst getting back on track after an injury setback. 

Gordon is rated highly at Anfield and has been exposed to first-team football since joining in a £3m deal from Derby County in 2021 and already has several high-profile supporters including Jurgen Klopp, his Reds' assistant Pep Lijnders and Wayne Rooney. 

His hope is that a spell with Johannes Hoff Thorup at Norwich can get his career back on track - here is what some of those who have worked with the winger have said about him in recent years. 

Jurgen Klopp rated Kaide Gordon highly during his time at Liverpool. (Image: PA)

Jurgen Klopp

Klopp handed Gordon his senior debut at Liverpool against Norwich in the Carabao Cup in September 2021, and praised the winger after his first Reds goal against Shrewsbury in the FA Cup in January 2022. 

"That's Kaide. When he is in these (goal-scoring) situations, he is really calm. I will not say that for the rest of his career in these situations that he will always score, but I'm pretty sure he will more often than not because that is just him. 

"I know he is the second youngest goalscorer for Liverpool, which is absolutely exceptional, especially when the other one was Michael Owen, but there is a long way to go. 

"No problem. Kaide has time. We will give him the time. He will have his minutes here and there.

"He’s good. A lot of things to improve, a lot of things to settle, a lot of things to learn but there’s a lot of things already there.

"We are really happy to have him around and we will treat him carefully, let me say it like this. I am really happy that he is here, he is a big talent."

Pep Lijinders (front, second right) rates Kaide Gordon (back, second right) highly. (Image: PA)

Pep Lijinders

Lijinders worked closely with Gordon during Klopp's time at Anfield and described to GOAL the moment he first spotted the England youth international during a pre-season training session.

"On Kaide - before pre-season, we always make sure that our biggest talents start a week earlier than we start. They start with the 23s training, so I went to the training ground to watch them.

"I see one player who has fire in each moment that he touches the ball. He passes players like they are not even standing there. I called Jurgen immediately and said 'wow, we have a new player here'. 

"We take this player into pre-season, and when do you know that you have good player around you? It's when the senior players start taking care of this young player.

"When you see James Milner speaking with Kaide, when you see Trent [Alexander-Arnold] becoming like a proper mentor and that you see they invite him to sit on the table, it made it good to him to adapt to our style.

"He is what you see a lot with these kind of wingers – they can outplay, they can combine – but he has a goal in him.

"And he has this natural ability to be in the box between the goalposts to score, even when the cross comes from the opposite side, for example. Not many talents have that.

"He is a typical Liverpool Football Club winger, in my opinion, because he has goals, he has speed. We really like him and we are really happy he is with us."

Kaide Gordon was handed his senior debut by Wayne Rooney at Derby. (Image: PA)

Wayne Rooney

Then boss of Derby, Rooney handed Gordon his senior debut in a 4-0 victory over Birmingham and spoke glowingly about his impact with the Rams. 

"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.

"As I said to the players: if you train hard and train well, I will give you your chance. Kaide is a fantastic player and he has got a lot of potential."

Former Derby manager Darren Wassall played a key role in Gordon's development. (Image: Richard Sellers/PA)

Darren Wassall 

Wassall, formerly manager and academy manager at Derby, played a key role in Gordon's progression through the system at Pride Park and raved about his qualities to GOAL after his move to Liverpool in 2021.

"Kaide is a special talent. He excites you as a player, and those are the kind of people you want to be around as a coach. 

"Because of his ability, he has that confidence that he feels he should be mixing with the best. He’s not shy or nervous, he embraces that challenge.

“Even the fact that he was willing to make that move to Liverpool, when he was still at school, tells you something about him. He knows where he wants to get to, and he wants to get there quickly.

“In terms of an attacking force, he’s got everything really,” Wassall says. “He’s got great balance, awareness, touch. Left footers always seem to be blessed with a wand, and he’s certainly got that!

“He’s very quiet off the pitch, but on it he comes alive. He just loves playing football, and when you see him play, it looks easy.

“You can’t coach some of the things he has. He has such a good footballing brain, and his decision-making is very good. There are a lot of players who have great technique or great pace, but they don’t know when to pass it, when to dribble, when to play one-touch. Kaide does.

"He keeps the game simple, while knowing he has everything in his locker. He can do anything with a football, but he makes the right decision more often than not, which is what the best players do.”