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Innocent Kurira
WHILE Trey Nyoni will make the trip to the USA, Isaac Mabaya who also has Zimbabwean roots in the England Liverpool squad will not be part of the club’s pre-season tour.
The Reds will play friendly matches against Real Betis, Arsenal and Manchester United. A 28-man squad will travel to America for the games and 17-year-old Nyoni is part of selected players. However, there is no room for fullback Isaac Mabaya.
The two youngsters are part of the Under-21 team but have both featured for the senior team and made the list of retained players for this coming season. Sixteen-year-old Nyoni, who joined the Reds in September 2023 made his senior debut in February 2024.
Mabaya, 19, didn’t feature much in last season’s campaign due to injuries. He only made five league appearances for the Under-21side.
The defender has been struggling with injuries which affected his form last season. His latest setback came in April just days after recovering from another long-term injury.
Mabaya signed his first professional contract with Liverpool FC in September 2021. He first attended the Academy at the age of six and broke into the Reds’ Under-18s side as an Under-16 player in 2020-21.
Mabaya, who can play either in midfield or at right-back, played for the senior team in pre-season during July 2022 when he was included in the squad for the Asia tour and training camp in Austria. Injury limited his game time and progress in the 2022-23 campaign but he penned fresh terms with the club in the final weeks of the season.
derick.khumalo