Liverpool has confirmed that 20-year-old winger Harvey Blair has signed for the Championship side Portsmouth on a permanent transfer as the exodus of young talents continues at Anfield .
Blair played for the Liverpool first team for the first time in the Carabao Cup in October 2021 but was never able to further build on that surprise debut. He was a shock starter amid several injuries for Jurgen Klopp's side at the time.
The following year, Blair scored five goals in 16 appearances but in 2023/24 a knee injury restricted him to just one start and three substitute appearances in Premier League 2. Turning 21 next month, Blair was unlikely to get much of a look-in at Anfield any time soon.
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Playing a part in Liverpool's senior pre-season tour to the USA this summer, it makes sense that he moves on for regular game time. It would have been a tough ask to get that under Arne Slot considering the level of competition from players including Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz .
"Young players, if they want to develop they have to play and it is always like this," Slot said in today's pre-Brentford press conference. "They come through the ranks and you are good enough to play as many minutes or there is too much competition in your position.
"This team that we have has a lot of homegrown players and one of them, Trey Nyoni , is training with us on a daily basis — still only 17. This club will always bring good youngsters.
"It is always a challenge to find the right moment or if they have played a lot of minutes [on loan] they want to make the next step in their career. If Virgil van Dijk is playing there or Mohamed Salah is playing there, it is best for them and also the club to let them go.
"You always want to take care of your own interest but you also have a responsibility to the players. If they want to play somewhere and they are not happy with 500 or 600 minutes — because these youngsters played minutes [mainly] in the cup — then in my opinion, you have to let them develop somewhere else."
Liverpool has now moved on seven players either permanently or on loan this summer. Bobby Clark has joined Red Bull Salzburg while Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg have moved to Brentford, all on permanent deals. Calvin Ramsay and Luke Chambers are both spending the season on loan at Wigan Athletic while Rhys Williams is at Morecambe on loan.
Lewis Koumas is spending the year at Stoke City while Billy Koumetio has joined Dundee permanently and Luca Stephenson is on loan at Dundee United. Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip also departed at the end of last season at the conclusion of their contracts.
Liverpool.com says: Blair was an impressive performer at times for Liverpool's youth teams but he was some way off getting minutes at senior level. A move to the second tier makes loads of sense for the next step in his career.
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