Liverpool refute bullying allegations aired by Bobby Duncan's agent

Liverpool rejected accusations that the club has kept teenage forward Bobby Duncan "against his will" and caused him "deep mental issues."

The allegations were made on Wednesday by the player's agent, Saif Rubie, in a lengthy statement on Twitter. Rubie claimed the Reds have been "mentally bullying" his client - first saying he can leave this summer, but then "going out of their way to force him to stay."

Liverpool responded to Rubie's comments with the following statement, as relayed by BBC Sport:

Liverpool Football Club is aware of and disappointed by the unattributed comments and unfounded allegations that have been made in the media regarding one of our players.

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.

Duncan only joined Liverpool from Manchester City in 2018 but was drawing interest from Serie A side Fiorentina in recent weeks, according to BBC Sport. He's also a cousin of club legend Steven Gerrard, and Rubie cited both the player's relationship to Gerrard and Liverpool's "rich history" when he complained about the Reds' supposedly undignified behavior.

Rubie continued: "It's a sad state of affairs that a club such as Liverpool can be allowed to get away with mentally bullying and destroying the life of a young man such as Bobby."

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher responded to Rubie's tweet and intimated that the agent is a clown via an emoji:

Carragher's interaction with Rubie prompted a Twitter spat that culminated in the latter describing Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards, who was apportioned plenty of blame in Rubie's original statement, as a "glorified data analyst."