By David Lynch, Merseyside Correspondent

11th May, 2023 | 11:13am

David Lynch: Liverpool make Calvin Ramsay decision

Calvin Ramsay won’t be rushed back to feature in the Liverpool squad before the end of the season despite taking a major step toward a return this week, sources have told Football Insider.

The Scot, who has been out of action since undergoing surgery on a knee issue in February, was a surprise inclusion in photographs from a training session at the club’s Kirkby base on Wednesday.

That has prompted speculation that he could be in contention to feature in Jurgen Klopp’s squad across the final three games of the campaign.

However, Football Insider understands that the Reds are taking a cautious approach to Ramsay’s rehabilitation and that he remains ruled out until next season.

The 19-year-old has endured an injury-hit first year at Anfield, which began with the club’s medical staff identifying a previously undiscovered back issue.

Having overcome that problem to make his only two Liverpool appearances thus far, Ramsay was then beset by a knee injury that resulted in the decision to go under the knife.

But, speaking earlier this year, Klopp insisted that the defender would feel the benefits of writing off his maiden campaign on Merseyside.

He said: “Coming back into a new team… I asked him when we spoke – when it was clear he has now the new injury I had him in my office – and I asked, ‘How often have you been your absolute best, yourself, pretty much?’ and he said, ‘Not often,’ and I say, ‘Never, not one day.’

“So, now we have to use that because we couldn’t. If you want to adapt to a new thing and can’t train for four months, stuff like this, it’s really tricky. He was always this step behind, now he has that injury and this season is over – even if you could come back a bit earlier, that makes no sense because now it is really to build the boy up physically and then to have a new start and we go again.

“We cannot play catch-up all the time with him because he is a great talent, a real talent, who had the most unlucky start possible.

“But in the end when he finishes his career at 36 or 37 or whatever, if he can say then, ‘The most difficult year of my career was the first’, or the second in his case maybe, that’s absolutely OK because all the others were better and we did the right things in the first two. So, that’s what we try to do now with him.”

Ramsay is expected to be fully fit for a pre-season period in which he will hope to show Klopp that he is worthy of operating as the first-choice back-up to Trent Alexander-Arnold at right-back.

However, he will face strong competition from academy prospect Conor Bradley, who has impressed during a season-long loan at Bolton Wanderers.

In other news, Liverpool are close to agreeing marquee deal with announcement soon.