Trey Nyoni was only called upon in the 88th minute in the FA Cup tie against Barnsley, and Arne Slot has admitted it was “maybe” his “mistake” for overlooking the teenager.

Slot guaranteed that he would name a strong squad for the visit of League One’s Barnsley on Monday, and he delivered. But it was seen by many as a missed opportunity.

Nyoni was only one of two teenagers in the squad, Ngumoha River was the other, but was only introduced for the final two minutes, when Liverpool had a 3-1 advantage.

Slot admitted to All Red Video that he felt “really sorry” for the 18-year-old’s lack of minutes on Monday, which meant he played for the U21s in a friendly against Wrexham on Tuesday.

Supporters had hoped to see the talented youngster from the start against the third-tier side, but Slot explained that he did not bring him on earlier due to the 2-1 scoreline.

Arne Slot explains Trey Nyoni’s late sub vs. Barnsley

“I feel really sorry for Trey because maybe it was my mistake,” Slot told All Red Video.

“But at 2-1 I thought I had to make the substitutions to win the game instead of giving a young player who is training every day so hard and is such a big talent the playing time he might deserve.

“I thought, ‘Let’s bring Ryan in first’, and that all had to do with us conceding the 2-1, because usually a game like this should go to three and then maybe .

“But we made it difficult for ourselves.”

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Ryan Gravenberch was introduced in the 73rd minute, with the score still at 2-1, and it was only after Florian Wirtz made it 3-1 that Nyoni emerged for a very brief cameo.

Dominik Szoboszlai‘s showboating was the reason Liverpool made the scoreline needlessly tight, but there will also be an appreciation that the Reds ought to have been able to make it comfortable, even with Nyoni on the pitch earlier.

The 18-year-old midfielder has made two starts this season, both in the Carabao Cupbut has now managed less than 10 minutes off the bench across the last 16 games in all competitions.