Town are reported to be among a number of clubs eyeing a loan move for Liverpool midfielder James McConnell.

According to Lewis Steele, the Daily Mail’s Merseyside reporter, highly rated McConnell is set to sign a new long-term deal at Anfield before heading out on loan with the Blues, West Brom, Derby and German sides all interested.

The 20-year-old, who is missing the Reds’ Asia tour due to a minor knock, started out as an attacking midfielder but over the last couple of years has moved to a more defensive role.

Newcastle-born McConnell joined Liverpool from Sunderland as an U15 and has made one start - in a Champions League tie against PSV last season - and nine sub appearances for the Reds, among them the 2024 Carabao Cup final. McConnell, who is 5ft 9in tall, has also won one England cap at U20 level.

Town boss Kieran McKenna said at the weekend that the Blues need to add more to their midfield ranks with skipper Sam Morsy closing in on a move to Kuwait SC and Massimo Luongo and loanees Jens Cajuste and Kalvin Phillips having departed at the end of the season. So far, only Azor Matusiwa has been added to the midfield options.

Meanwhile, Middlesbrough manager Rob Edwards has insisted Blues target Hayden Hackney is committed to the Teessiders.

TWTD revealed earlier this month that Town are showing interest in the 23-year-old, who was given additional time off by Boro having been with the England U21s at the European Championship.

“H, as far as I'm concerned and aware at the moment, he's here and that's why he's playing and out on the pitch,” Edwards told the Northern Echo.

“He's fully committed. He loves this football club and we love him. He's a really good player, I thought him and Aidan [Morris] showed that in the first half [of Saturday’s friendly at Mansfield.”

Photo: IMAGO/Pro Sports Images via Reuters Connect

bobble added 11:35 - Jul 21 No more scouserx we had truckloads under cook and got nowhere
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flykickingbybgunn added 11:47 - Jul 21 Dont care where they come from. If KMcK thinks they are good enough that is good enough for me.
21

flykickingbybgunn added 11:47 - Jul 21 Dont care where they come from. If KMcK thinks they are good enough that is good enough for me.
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flykickingbybgunn added 11:49 - Jul 21 How did I do that twice ? Apologies. But also pointing out that he is a Geordie not a scouser.
12

PortmanTerrorist added 11:57 - Jul 21 We hear a great deal about players from 'big' clubs, who are apparently worth a small fortune despite having achieved absolutely nothing in men's football....at the age of 20+. Made similar comment earlier. If we go down this route, we have to sign the player, and he has to go straight into our first team and be good. A big ask, but we only have a couple of seasons of financial advantage and that adds pressure. Trust the Club, but it makes me nervous

3

Cookieboy added 12:02 - Jul 21 Why do we keep going down the loan route with our midfielders. ??? If they are any good we can't keep 'em. Buy a good one and make him better
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Monkey_Blue added 12:03 - Jul 21 PortmanTerrorist. We signed Omari on loan when he had played less first team football than this lad and we eased him into the side. He wasn’t a regular starter until the second half of that season
6

Bazza8564 added 12:16 - Jul 21 Im absolutely unconvinced about the edwards comments on HH. What else could he say? I seem to remember we had all this with Szmodics a year ago and suddenly, fee agreed and hes ours.
3

darkhorse28 added 12:54 - Jul 21 Bobble - Cook signed us Morsy and Chaplin …, probably still better than any signing since, certainly in terms of success. We’ve spent over £150 million since, and none of them have that drive, motivation, and winning mentality. I don’t care where players come from, if they’re good enough.
7

jas0999 added 13:22 - Jul 21 Would prefer to see permanent additions. OnE or maximum two loans as we build a squad for now and the future.
0

gkroon89 added 15:28 - Jul 21 Another below 6 foot midfielder? Corners could be an issue next season if on the pitch together.
2

ArnieM added 15:54 - Jul 21 Can someone tell me what's the point of loaning a bigger club's player, when he'll just go back to his parent club at the end of that loan, but offers us minimal experience and physicality for the coming Championship season?
2

gkroon89 added 16:09 - Jul 21 ArnieM - main priority this season is promotion. How you get there doesn’t matter as the prize money will progress the club. As we know we have a good chance this season, loans really don’t matter if we don’t get to keep them. The only important thing is we get promoted and then attract better calibre players.
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runaround added 16:22 - Jul 21 ArnieM - I’m guessing it’s usually because some of these premier league loanees are better than most EFL players but are beyond Championship teams on a permanent basis financially. Obviously you don’t want to totally fill the team with them but the right couple or so of loanees can really help as Omari and Sarmiento did the last time we were in this league
0

BangaloreBlues added 17:35 - Jul 21 That picture... looks like he's been doing bongs all night :-)
1

trevski_s added 17:46 - Jul 21 This one confuses me. I know I don't see all the same info and data that the likes of McKenna and the recruitment team see but I don't see any difference between this lad and Humphreys. I would rather trust in one of our own that had an amazing season last year and also has had more game time and even some Championship experience. Only benefit I see is that he wouldn't count towards the squad limit. But I am more than happy to be proven wrong and if McKenna see's something in him it would be good to see what this lad can do

1

BlueRuin69 added 19:12 - Jul 21 If Premiership under 21s are so good how come they never win papa johns trophy which is won by league one sides, another cheap option…,
0

ITFC_1994 added 20:15 - Jul 21 Really makes me laugh how some fans get so upset about us signing players on loan.... literally some of our best players in the last 20 odd years have been loans, or started on loan.... also the loan market is there to be used! I Can't say I've heard of him but sounds and exciting prospect and as others have said, if he's good enough for KM he's good enough for me!
0

SuperTabby added 20:37 - Jul 21 Why wouldn’t we want to loan a highly rated 20 year old? Doesn’t cost us much, wouldn’t need to be registered and could end up being very good for us. Might as well use the loan market to bring in some decent players and add some depth, if we get promoted we’d have way more money to spend on a central midfielder anyway. If he’s no good then we can just send him back in January.

0

TheLoveOfWisdom added 23:22 - Jul 21 Get Sarmiento back? What do we think?
0

armchaircritic59 added 23:43 - Jul 21 Just a small amendment to the article above. JM also started the cup tie for Liverpool at Plymouth. For a minute I thought I might have been hallucinating as I watched it, and was sure he started, so I checked and I'm right! For the record he was ok, no more, no less. I honestly don't know enough about the lad to make a relevant comment, other than that.
0

BobbyBell added 10:06 - Jul 22 We won't spend big for this season as we have a good championship squad. It's more about getting another promotion and then we will be more attractive to top players and will spend much more. Loaning exciting young players who could then sign for us IF we get promotion is good business as it was with Omari. His value has increased quite a bit in his time with us. We sometimes have to remember that a football club is a business too. KM is a great coach and MA has shown himself to be a clever dealer when it comes to contracts.

1

budgieplucker added 13:11 - Jul 22 The lad has lots of promise (so does Cameron Humphreys) plus we are going to need to have to try and take advantage of the loan market and maybe a freebie or two. This would keep funds to focus on another big ticket midfielder and a striker - I quite like the look of Milanovic from Millwall who had a great season last year. However the lad is another who doesn’t have great height or physicality and wouldn’t want to take him if there were conditions attached about number if starts etc.

0

dirtydingusmagee added 15:24 - Jul 22 Some here saying we just need to get promoted and we will attract better players ect, we'll it didn't happen last year ,
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