How 'really smart' Trey Nyoni has impressed Andoni Iraola
Andoni Iraola has been impressed with the footballing maturity of Trey Nyoni and challenged him to continue his encouraging development.
The 19-year-old hit another milestone in his career on Wednesday evening by earning a first Champions League start in the 6-3 victory away at LASK.
That occasion in Austria was the midfielder's 26th competitive appearance for the club, having made his senior debut back in February 2024.
"Trey is a player that I think, being very young with not a lot of minutes in the first team, he's very mature," Iraola told reporters. "He understands the situations very well, he understands the game very well. Tactically, I think he's really smart.
"But he has to continue doing the steps in the right direction. I'm confident with him.
"He has been involved, I think, in most of the last games, but he has to keep this level of performance, of training.
"If he has to play as a six, as an eight, he has to play one minute, he doesn't have to play, he has to start and play all the game like yesterday – he has to be there, putting pressure also on the other midfielders.
"And I think it's very good for us that we can put [in] these young players with not a lot of experience and they can perform in a competition like the Champions League or in the Premier League."
