Liverpool invite Ecuadorian starlet Mauricio Quinonez to join club on trial for pre-season campaign

Teenage defender Josue Mauricio Quinonez has joined Liverpool on a trial basis. The 16-year-old currently plays for Ecuadorian Serie A side Independiente del Valle, but is now poised to link up with the Reds' Under-18 side for their tour of Germany.

Quinonez will spend 12 days training with the club's youth ranks with hopes of impressing the coaching staff and earning a permanent move. Independiente have confirmed the youngster is now travelling to Germany with a club official.

Liverpool Under-21 boss Michael Beale and 45 of the club's young prospects have travelled to Germany for their pre-season camp, which will see them take on first team opposition from clubs in the second and their tiers of German football.

Beale told Sky Sports: "We're playing Sonnenhof who are a Bundesliga 3 team and Erzgebirge Aue, who got promoted to Bundesliga 2 last season, and we'll be taking on both of their first teams," Beale said.

"We come back and play Rhyl, which is good for our fans in North Wales and then Celtic U21s, which will be great for the Scottish Reds, before facing Morecambe's first-team before their season starts."

Some of the club's young prospects were given the opportunity to impress Jurgen Klopp in a pre-season friendly against Tranmere on Friday 8 July. With 14 members of the first-team still on holiday following international campaigns, Ovie Ejaria and Ben Woodburn were among those to feature.

Liverpool's first team take on Fleetwood Town in another friendly on Wednesday as part of a pre-season campaign that includes nine fixtures in all.

After Fleetwood, the Reds take on Wigan Athletic and Huddersfield Town before setting off the US, where they will take on Chelsea on 27 July and AC Milan on 30 July as part of the International Champions Cup.