Spearing, Amoo, Kelly: Roy believes they could all be first-teamers

There is no doubting that Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson wasn’t just focusing on bringing in new senior players this summer. One of the first things he talked about after his appointment as manager was the importance of “bridging” the gap between the Academy and Melwood with Kenny Dalglish central to any plans. Presumably, Roy was thinking of youth player progression a few years down the line, but the absence of the club’s World Cup players combined with a very early start to the club’s season, has seen Roy training with a squad full of reserves and youngsters over the last ten days at the team’s training camp in Switzerland. Although he has maligned the absence of many top players and talked about the fitness dilemmas for the Europa League, he has also spoken in glowing terms about the team’s young guns. Speaking after the 1-0 loss to Bundesliga side Kaiserslautern, Hodgson had this to say:

“Spearing in particular has done well over the last two games and definitely deserves to be a part of our first-team squad. I can understand why so many clubs are interested in loaning him. It’s the same with Kelly, Eccleston and Amoo. They have all done well. If we’d have drawn 0-0 I don’t think anyone could have said we were lucky. I think they had their work cut out. The shape of our team after just 10 days working together was good and the movement of the likes of Amoo and Ince was also good. They are both Academy players, but you’d have thought they’d have been playing in the Bundesliga all their lives. It was the same at the back with Kelly and Ayala. They did a fantastic job.”

Such positivity about the calibre of youngsters at the club is only a good thing. Of the players he mentioned, Spearing has been on the cusp of the first team for a long time, and he spent the last few months of last season on loan at Leicester City where he started nearly every match for the Foxes. His impressive spell has obviously attracted other potential suitors, according to Roy’s remarks, and despite the benefits another loan spell could bring, Hodgson believes he is capable of playing a bigger part next season; a tribute to the player’s progression as a player. In regards to the rest he mentioned, there are few surprises in the names he picked.

In defence Martin Kelly and Daniel Ayala are the best youth players the club has got. Ayala was selected to start by Rafa Benitez a number of times last season, and although there was speculation about a move back to Spain, it seems that he might get a few more opportunities at Anfield this season. Kelly, a versatile defender will no doubt see the impending departure of Philipp Degen as very encouraging; if Roy believes he can cut it, he has got to be Glen Johnson’s reserve at right back next season.

In regards to David Amoo and Tom Ince, the encouraging comments from Roy will no doubt give both players the motivation going forward and every Liverpool fan should be optimistic about their progression. Roy loves fast wingers; “width in attack” has always been something he has emphasised in his teams, and in Ince and Amoo he has two youngsters who can play on opposite flanks and contribute the pace and width required. In Eccleston and Pacheco as well, Roy will certainly see some very promising forwards too and with the Spaniard especially impressing for Spain U19s, his future looks very bright indeed.

Questions will of course remain about whether they will have a chance to progress to first team football. Hodgson has been concerned about the lack of senior players who will be involved in the Europa League tie against FK Rabotnicki on Thursday, and obviously does not want to go into the match risking youngsters in his first competitive match. In a previous article, I have mentioned that I wouldn’t be concerned about playing these players in Macedonia and if he goes by what he has already said about them, Roy shouldn’t be too concerned either. In fact, he went on to say after the Kaiserslautern match that many could be included in the 25 first team squad at the end of the August:

“Most of these players here will be part of our squad. One or two are exceptionally young, like Jack Robinson and Victor Palsson and maybe they won’t be that involved in the first-team squad, but a lot of the others will. . . We’ll see how many seniors we get now. I want a squad of about 25 players and we’ll see how many of these are involved in it now.”

With the Premier League home grown quota to be enforced, this maybe an indicator that he is being forced to include them because of the restrictions, however he could easily find cheap English senior players to fill gaps in the home grown quota. Going by his remarks though, Roy looks set to put some of his faith in youth.

Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool

Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com