In his column for the Liverpool Echo, John Aldridge stated that the Reds currently have the best youth team the club has ever had. He mentioned that there was as many as 14 youngsters who had the potential to make it the first team:
“I say with some confidence that this is the best youth team Liverpool have ever had, There’s so much promise among the players that fans are excited to see them in the first team when the time is right. Usually, you can identify just one or two who might make the grade from the second strings. Now, there’s up to 14 who could easily appear for the senior side at some stage. Hopefully, in the next few years, the lads in their late teens will be getting some action and it sets up some exciting times for Liverpool.”
I have attempted to identify the 14 players below. He maybe talking about some players in lower age groups but I have selected the best players from the reserves and under 18s (omitting players such as Danny Wilson, Dani Pacheco and Jonjo Shelvey who could be said to be more estbalished first team squad members already) to make up my list. Some of them maybe guesses but I feel the majority are correct.
1. Suso (Pictured) – A talented, tricky Spanish midfielder with a great future ahead of him if he continues to progress at the rate he is going. Has been given the number 30 shirt by Kenny Dalglish.
2. Conor Coady – Selected on the bench for the Europa League encounter last Thursday, the holding midfielder/centre-back captains Liverpool U18s and led England’s U17s to the European Championships last summer.
3. Andre Wisdom – The centre back scored an own goal and a goal at the right end during the U17 European Championship final last year, and has moved up to reserve team football this campaign
4. John Flanagan – The full back is highly thought of at Melwood and was one of the five youngsters who made the trip to Prague last week.
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Thought David Amoo looked quite promising in pre-season, too.
You left out Danny Wilson, Dani Pacheco and Jonjo Shelvey because they have appeared in the first team, but include Ayala, Eccleston, Robinson and Ince who have also made first team appearances.
aldo has jumped nicely on the bandwagon, he never even wanted daglish back, 4 of those mentioned have very little chance but brad smith not mentioned has a great chance. stirling, suso, silva (underated) smith, flannagan, coady, robinson, ince plus the two lads who have been injured are my favorites to make it. shelvey has made it already.
I would say 6-8 of them will make into the 1st team, they are obvious to Liverpool fans who follow LFC.tv. We have to congratulate the academy staff and Rafa Benitez for these super kids!!!!
aldo wanted kenny back aldo is a scouser who are you to take the pi*% your little blurt
Adam Morgan is defo one. Don’t forget gulacsi who has been given the nod ahead of brad jones since the Asian cup. The lad is going to be top draw.
Chris mavinga also has a great chance.
Their should be no more talk of this Rafa legacy crap until these youth players actually establish themselves in the first team in the Premier League. Beating rubbish like Southend is meaningless. Dalglish did not have the guts to give even one of the 5 a chance against Sparta, instead playing rubbish like Cole. To survive in the Premier League these young players will need to bulk up considerably as it is not like La Liga where players have so much space and time on the ball.
why the hell r u so concerned u idiot sounds like a united a** h*** afraid that we r going to kick u in the next round and only time will tell how good these youngsters are
“Dalglish did not have the guts to give even one of the 5 a chance against Sparta”
To Kenny
Every day you blurt some crap out about Dalglish…. no true LFC fan would disrespect the King the way you do… You are either a Manc or a Chelski fan – go away and stay on your own forums.
In response to farhan and Pete G, I have been a Liverpool fan for 33 years. Not one shot on target against rubbish like Sparta and you think Dalglish deserves no criticism for that. The question is are these young players really good enough to make it in the Premier League? or has this publicity campaign raving about these youngsters abilities being way over the top? Jack Wiltshire was playing in the Premier League at 17 and was superb against Barcelona. Wayne Rooney played for Everton in the Premier League at 16.
I like Dalglish, but I agree with Kenny that these kids can not be rated until they make first team appearances. Look what happened to Neil Mellor, he scored a hat full of goals for the reserves yet when he got to the big stage, he wasn’t good enough to stay. Beating Southend 9-0 was a fantastic achievement for the youth team, but put it into context the level at which they are playing. Too much pressure was heaped on Dani Pacheco and he’s been left in the wilderness a bit, particularly with Carroll and Suarez joining. I think rather than bigging the youngsters up and piling the pressure on them to be superstars over night, we need to relax and watch their development in a patient manner, much like Kelly at right-back came fairly under the radar.
Kenny and james yes you have some valid points but also so not so valid King Kenny was never going to use the young lads in europe if you listened to what he said in his interview which was it is to intergrate them in to the first team environment and give them big match experiance he also stated that if he thought it was the right time he would have no second thoughts about putting them in the team so to say King Kenny didnt have the guts is totaly wrong he is educating them for the future .As for the rafa legacy remark you have not been following the youth set up over the last two years I take it well I have and the diffrence in potential, individualskill, team ethics, technical ability , team play and formation and quality of players is improved ten fold since rafa stepped in and got shut of Hugh mcauley and his staff and due to the change of personnel us supporters who watch Lfc tv or go to watch the youth teams and reserves can see the improvement the quality the excellenct coaching from the coaching staff which inspires us to believe that alot of these young men can make it to the first team , Neil mellor was never going to make it in the premier league over a long period of time he lacked pace he is playing in the level which is best suited for him with no disrespect to Neil so to use neil in your debate was wrong and Martin Kelly we all new about for a while so he did not come in under the radar as you have stated and I have supported liverpool fc for 47 yrs and one last thing Kenny you say you have been a fan of liverpool for 33yrs have you not learnt anything in that time of LFC in europe like make the home fans quite , come away with out conceding a goal , keep hold of the ball which LFC did if the other team want to plant ten men behind the ball that is not King Kennys fault is it .
Most of them will not make it at Liverpool. Some will be released or sold before they’ve even made a single first team appearance for us. A few, such as Ayala, Suso and Sterling will most probably make it but they can’t actually be rated until they make the step up to the first team and actually show what they’re capable of doing. We’ve had many in the past who have been excellent at youth level and reserves but have failed to apply themselves in the first team, for example, Neil Mellor. Even highly rated youngsters like Kristian Nemeth and Dalla Valle was sold before they even made a single first team appearance while Dani Pacheco, where so much has been expected of him for the past 2 years, has found himself rotting in the reserves. There’s no point in looking at 16 year olds and saying they’re going to make it based purely on their performances at youth level. For now, more established youngsters who are around 19 or 20 not 15 or 16 should be given more chances. Gulacsi, Wilson, Ayala, Shelvey and Pacheco should all be playing more regularly. Also, you didn’t include two great promising youngsters Gulacsi and Mavinga which I found quite strange.
Listen, Albey if you think that having no attempts on target against Sparta is acceptable then you would want to rethink. Sparta only need a score draw at Anfield while Liverpool need to win so in light of that are you still impressed by that sleeping pill performance against a team who had not played in months. Your comments that the youth system is now more professional etc. is all very well but the bottom line is these players must do it at firstteam level in the Premier League then you and others can talk about Rafa’s legacy.
@kenny u av 2 relax ur nerves bcos u sound lyk a manure fans
Kenny nearly every game we have played in the europe cup this season has been like that against prague . If they couldnt score in the home leg with all their fans with them what makes you think they will score in the second leg Kenny and if they do score we would have to score two and if we cant then we are not good enough to be in the competition end of fella as for the young lads they are not in the first team yet because there not ready to be but what I am saying is they give us more hope now than we have had for many years that we can produce top class players for the first team in the very near future as for Eric and mellor if neil mellor was that good he would be playing for another club in the premier league no he is out on loan to shef wed from preston who are going to be relegated by the looks of things so using mellor is not viable and that is no disrespect to neil mellor by the way . and one last point go back 2 years under Hugh Mcauley to when we were hammered by arsenal in the youth cup final who from that youth team has made it through to the first team on a regular basis I cant recall any can you Kenny or Eric
So Albey if Roy Hodgson had been still managing the team against Sparta would you still have praised that performance? From your comments about the youth system, it would seem your real aim is just to win the Youth Cup and you don’t have any real interest in the club bringing these players into the first team. Did I mention Neil Mellor in any of my posts? No, I did not.
Kenny read my post properly will you . I am not prasing that performance what I am saying that liverpool in europe over many years have gone to away legs first to quieten the crowd keep a clean sheet and if they can get an away goal they did two out the three is what they achieved no it was not the performance i would want to see every week as we did under hodgson but were going to anfield on a even keel and we have just beaten them one nil so is what am saying not justified as for my comment about Neil Mellor if you read it it say ERIC that is the person who mentioned mellor in his post . As for the youth Kenny I am saying that the crop of youngsters that we now have gives us all hope except you that they will make it in to the first team at some stage I am not saying that they should be in there now but in the near future and the point about the fa youth cup is how many of the team that played in the final have gone on to play for the first team rafa sat and watched that game and decided that the whole academy needed scraping and starting all over again which he did and now we will in the near future reep the benefits of his fore sight
Albey,at what age do you personally think a promising youth player should be promoted into the first eleven? Liverpool were lucky against Sparta, a header four minutes from time against a poor team was fortunate to say the least. In your opinion of the current youth setup, which of the current batch of youth players will make it in the near future into the first eleven in the Premiership? Proof of Rafa’s legacy as you call it can only be substantiated by establishment of several youth players in the first eleven in the Premiership as Barcelona did in La Liga.
That poor team as you put it Kenny won there championship last season and were in the champions league this season so that is very disrespectful to Sparta and to liverpool fc . As for what age players should be put in the first team is a mater of when there ready and when the manager thinks it is the right time gerrard and owen played in the reserves and even thou owen was younger than gerrard he made it in to the first team first gerrard was not ready but in time look what he has become so it is timeing Kenny . The current youth players that will have a very good chance to make it in first team are Susso , Sterling, Cody, Flanaghan , robinson , amoo , . as for barcelona bringing in several youth players name them Kenny ?