Medical completed: Liverpool transfer news drops during first half of Athletic Bilbao friendly | OneFootball

While Liverpool fans were enraptured by a magnificent performance from their team in the first of their two friendly matches against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield on Monday evening, one man’s exit from Merseyside took a significant step closer to becoming official.

Over the weekend, Paul Joyce reported that Tyler Morton is set to complete a permanent transfer to Lyon, with the Reds having a 20% sell-on clause on the midfielder.

The 22-year-old travelled with Arne Slot’s squad for their pre-season tour to the Far East and played in the defeat to AC Milan in Hong Kong, but unsurprisingly he wasn’t involved in today’s double header in L4.

Morton completes Lyon medical ahead of impending Liverpool exit

Just before 5:30pm this evening – as the half-hour mark of the first game against Athletic Bilbao was approaching – talkSPORT reporter Alex Crook shared news of the England under-21 star’s impending exit from Liverpool.

The journalist confirmed (via X) that Morton has completed his medical at Lyon ahead of his £15m transfer to the Ligue 1 outfit.

(Photo by Yu Chun Christopher Wong/Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)

Morton couldn’t quite establish himself at Liverpool

The Wallasey native showed huge promise when he broke into the Liverpool first team in 2021/22, featuring nine times in that season as a teenager (out of his 14 Reds appearances) and being tipped by Thiago Alcantara to go on and enjoy ‘a bright and great career here’ (BBC Sport).

It won’t be at Anfield, but Morton might still fulfil the rest of his former teammate’s prophecy in France, and his move to Lyon could give him the opportunity to play regularly in the Europa League as well as Ligue 1.

With the Reds set to bank £15m fron the impending sale of the midfielder, that’d take their income from player exits this summer to almost £145m – a healthy influx that critics of the club’s spendthrift transfer policy ought to note.

Although the 22-year-old showed plenty of potential during his time at Liverpool, in truth he’d find it tough to hold down a regular place in Slot’s starting XI given the competition for midfield berths, and it’d therefore be difficult to stand in his way as he seeks to progress his career.

We expect that the transfer will become official in the next few days, and we wish Morton every success at Lyon, where he should hopefully enjoy plenty of exposure at a high level of football.