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Our academy has been very poorly utilised in the last 20 years. Since we had Owen, Gerrard and Carragher break through, we’ve produced two players of starting XI quality and that is Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling. Although Sterling signed at 15 years old from Queens Park Rangers and also didn’t stay very long!
Two players in two decades has to be improved upon. In truth it’s not been good enough with regards to either players we’ve signed as teenagers or those we’ve nutured from schoolchildren.
We have had a handful threaten to break through such as Martin Kelly, Jon Flanagan, Suso, Andre Wisdom, Ben Woodburn and Jerome Sinclair. Most faded out of the picture due to injuries or just failing to maintain their standards at senior level.
With out any further waffling, I’ll get straight into my assessment of all the U21 players currently at Liverpool’s disposal, who are often touted as close to the first team.
Goalkeepers:
First up is Harvey Davies. He joined the club at 9 years old and impressed a lot coming up through the academy. He certainly caught the eye of Klopp and has featured on the bench for the first team on several occasions. For me he needs a loan to prove himself in mens football. He has an outside chance of replacing Caoimhin Kelleher or Adrian San Miguel though, if either were to leave in the summer. Kelleher might feel he can be a starter elsewhere and Adrian is out of contract.
The only other keeper I see having a realistic chance any time soon is Marcelo Pitaluga. Signed at 17 from Fluminense, the Brazilian came with a huge reputation as one of the best young keepers in the world. He’s currently on loan at Macclesfield and getting regular game time so hopefully he can come back to the club all the better for it. I’d say he has the best chance of replacing Kelleher or Adrian in the first team squad. He has more senior experience than any other young keeper at the club thanks to his loan. He’s miles off Alisson Becker still though.
Right backs:
The obvious one is Calvin Ramsay. The young Scotsman signed for approximately £4million from Aberdeen, and big things were expected from him. He won young player of the season last year and is seen as a top talent up in Scotland. Sadly he has yet to show that in England. In pre-season it emerged he had an injury issue that I’d assume was missed in the medical and it was reported from within the club that this injury would need to be managed. Rather frustrating…
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