Former Liverpool striker Emile Heskey is convinced ‘outstanding’ young midfielder Trey Nyoni can save his old club a fortune in the transfer market, as he continues to impress under Andoni Iraola this season.

The 19-year-old talent has started just once in the Premier League this term but three times in the Champions League, as Iraola still searches for that right balance in his engine room.

Nyoni came off the bench for the final 20 minutes of Sunday’s 3-1 victory at Crystal Palace, with Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister preferred in the double midfield pivot, despite neither player being defensively minded.

Indeed, there continue to be plenty of murmurings over Liverpool spending again to add a stronger defensive presence to Iraola’s engine room, despite also having Ryan Gravenberch on the books.

However, Heskey thinks Anfield chiefs could save themselves £100m-plus in the transfer market by trusting Nyoni to fill that role for the next decade.

Indeed, Heskey told Eldorado: “Can Trey Nyoni save Liverpool £100million in the transfer market by filling the place of the holding midfielder they’d otherwise need to sign? 100%! You’ve got to remember too he’s only 19, so he can keep doing this for the next 10 years.

“A lot of fans and a lot of pundits have been looking at Liverpool and saying they haven’t really got anyone who can punch a ball through and keep it moving but now we’re seeing that that’s what Trey does, and he does it well.

“He’s only slight, so we’re not really looking at his stature and thinking he will be winning possession back at this moment in time, but he’s doing well with the ball, and what he produces for Liverpool in that role has been outstanding.

“It allows Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch to play further forward, and that’s probably where you get the best out of them, and they can help Trey by covering the ground and winning back the ball more aggressively than he can.

“If they can play in these higher positions, with Trey sitting back, it could give Liverpool a new lease of life because Gravenberch was only playing that role himself out of necessity. He’s not a holding midfielder. He only played there because Liverpool didn’t have anyone else.

“Now he can play further forward and we’ll start to see what he’s really about as a midfielder too.”

Carragher raves over rise of Nyoni, Ngumoha

It’s been reported that Liverpool chiefs are on the cusp of handing Nyoni a new deal on Merseyside, and Reds legend Jamie Carragher believes the rapid rise of Nyoni and Rio Ngumoha is starting to give Iraola a selection headache.

Carragher told CBS Sports Golazo, after the Champions League loss at Fenerbahce: “Nyoni and Ngumoha were the best players for Liverpool, and they were a week or so ago against Chelsea.

“But they also play in a position of players where Liverpool have spent big money.

“Barcola’s come in for £120m. He played up front tonight, didn’t play well, but the younger players are playing better than him.

“With Trey Nyoni in midfield, Liverpool haven’t spent expensively on a player as such, but they’ve given big contracts this summer to Ryan Gravenberch – who was left out at the weekend for Trey Nyoni – and Szoboszlai, who played tonight and didn’t play particularly well.”

Pointing a finger of blame at Liverpool’s recruitment, he suggests their money has not been invested wisely enough and arguably should have been spent on other areas of the side.

“It doesn’t matter the figures, but you can imagine the type of figures they will be on. When a young player in midfield is playing ahead of them, that causes a problem about where you’ve spent your money. You basically haven’t spent your money well enough.”