For one young player at Liverpool, an under-the-radar friendly for the Reds’ under-21s against Wrexham on Tuesday marked a seminal moment in his fledgling career.
It’s nearlt a year to the day that, during a season-long loan at Millwall, Calum Scanlon suffered a nasty hamstring injury which ultimately sidelined him for the remainder of 2025, a devastating setback after he’d just returned from four months out due to a stress fracture in his back.
To put it mildly, fate has been unkind to the 20-year-old, but he made his long-awaited comeback yesterday, playing the first half of a 1-1 draw in the aforementioned friendly, with former Reds defender Conor Coady lining out for the opposition (liverpoolfc.com).
Scanlon revels in long-awaited Liverpool comeback
After playing his first match in almost a full year, the Liverpool youngster took to Instagram to rejoice in finally getting back onto the pitch and putting his injury hell behind him.
Scanlon posted: ‘353 days. It’s been a while but I’m finally back, thank you Lord ❤️’
Hopefully fate will be kinder to Scanlon in 2026
It’s difficult to overstate just how significant the match on Tuesday would’ve felt for the left-back. While it won’t go down as an ‘official’ appearance, to him it’ll feel like a whole new beginning, and hopefully the first big step towards his career finally taking off.
He’ll obviously need plenty more game-time before he’s fully back up to speed, but hopefully he can get vital minutes on the pitch for Rob Page’s under-21 side in Premier League 2 over the next few weeks and months.
Scanlon turns 21 next month and will want to begin establishing himself at senior level this year. If he can avoid any further injury setbacks and rediscover the potential he’d shown as a teenager, it’s likely that a few clubs will come knocking on Liverpool’s door about a possible loan move in the summer.
The defender was rated highly enough by Jurgen Klopp to be handed a couple of Europa League outings two seasons ago, and although he’s realistically some way off adding to that tally, it’s an achievable goal to aim towards in 2026, if fate is kinder to him and he makes the most of his time on the pitch.
It’s fantastic to see the 20-year-old finally making his comeback, and here’s hoping that the injury problems which have so cruelly set him back are now a thing of the past.
