Latest Liverpool news: Reds reject claims made by Duncan’s agent regarding blocking transfer and more

Liverpool have rejected claims made by Bobby Duncan’s agent, Saif Rubie, where he accused the European champions of “mentally bullying” the 18-year-old.

Duncan, the cousin of Steven Gerrard, was in excellent form for the U18s last season and helped us lift the FA Youth Cup.

The English attacker also played some games during the pre-season for the Reds but Rubie launched an astonishing attack on the Reds via his Twitter profile.

Harry Wilson celebrates a goal with Adam Lallana and Bobby Duncan

The extensive tweet seems to have been deleted but the Guardian reports that Rubie had a go at Michael Edwards for not allowing Duncan to join Fiorentina.

A part of his tirade read (h/t Guardian):

“A few months ago before the end of last season, Bobby had meetings with the club’s hierarchy including academy director Alex Inglethorpe. It was recognised that Bobby wasn’t happy at Liverpool for different reasons and Alex invited us to bring offers to the club for the exit of Bobby Duncan.
“For a player with zero first-team experience, no clubs were prepared to pay an outright reasonable [sic] fee for a player they got for £200,000 last summer. With that in mind we have been able to find clubs that were ready to take Bobby on a season-long loan with an option to buy for amounts of £1.5m upwards which is a great return for the club on a player who will never play for the Liverpool first team and who doesn’t want to be there.”

The agent added that the real reason why Duncan was not a part of the U23 game against Southampton was due to some “deep mental health issues with all the stress the club has put him under”.

Rubie added that Duncan is on a small salary at the club and he has two years left on his deal with the Reds. The agent claimed that Liverpool were not going to offer him a new one and the striker will not return to the club.

Liverpool will try to work it out with Duncan

A release from the club added that Liverpool was aware of the comments and “unfounded” allegations that have been made in the media, but claimed that they will work with the player in private (h/t Guardian):

“As the interests of the player in question are not best served by either inaccurate speculation, inflammatory statements or public discourse, we will be making no further comment. We will, however, continue our efforts to work privately with the player to find resolution in the best interests of all involved.”

This is a surprising development in Duncan’s time at the club as he is one of the brightest players in the team.

The youngster could have played for the Reds in the future had he continued developing at the same rate, and it will be interesting to see what measures are taken in regards to this.