5 youth prospects from the Liverpool academy to watch out for

Almost three years back, when Liverpool were managed by Kenny Dalglish, they gave a relatively unknown, skinny 17-year-old winger his first team debut.Five months later, the same teenager was given his first Premier League start against defending champions Manchester City and the youngster’s performance exceeded expectations as he left an experienced Kolo Toure reeling throughout the game. The kid is none other than the latest Golden Boy award winner Raheem Sterling.Sterling is arguably the best player to have come through the Liverpool academy after the likes of Steven Gerrard and Michael Owen back in the late nineties, but the Merseyside club are now on the right track to regularly grooming talented youngsters for the first team.The latest player to have come to the limelight from the Reds’ youth set up is 19-year-old Jordon Ibe. Ibe was recently called back from his loan spell at Derby County and was given his first start for Liverpool in over 15 months and that too in the high intensity Merseyside Derby, and the teenager responded with a man of the match performance.Liverpool’s manager Brendan Rodgers is not afraid to give youngsters from the academy a chance in the first team and under the Ulsterman, 10 players from the academy have made their senior team debuts.The performances of Raheem Sterling and Jordon Ibe have drawn attention to the club’s youth setup as there are plenty of promising players in the club’s U-21 squad who are expected to break into the first team in the coming years. Honourable Mentions: Lloyd Jones, Adam Phillips, Jordan Williams, Sergio Canos and Pedro Chirivella.

#1 Jordan Rossiter

Position: Central Midfield

Age: 17

Comparisons drawn with: Steven Gerrard

Jordan Rossiter has been at the Liverpool academy since being picked up at the age of six while playing for his school team. The teenager from Everton valley is the latest in a long line of ‘Next Steven Gerrards’ to emerge from the club’s academy, but unlike his predecessors, this youngster might live up to the hype.

The 17-year-old plays best in a deep lying playmaker role as he is an excellent distributor of the ball and can move the ball around with relative ease. He is very strong with his tackling and is not easily bullied or intimidated by players who are bigger than him and this is evident from the fact that he has been playing ahead of his age group for the last three seasons.

Brendan Rodgers is a huge admirer of the teenager and called him up to train with the first team on several occasions, as well as named him on the bench a couple of times last season.

Rossiter made his highly anticipated senior team debut earlier this season in a League Cup match against Middleborough and opened the scoring with a 30 yard low drive to become Liverpool’s youngest goal scorer behind Michael Owen.

Liverpool legends like Robbie Fowler and Jamie Carragher have heaped praises on the 17-year-old who has already captained the club’s U-18 & U-21 side and also won Liverpool’s academy player of the season award last year. Hopefully, the weight of expectations will not hold him down.

Interesting Fact: Rossiter was only 18 months old when his idol Steven Gerrard made his Liverpool debut.

#2 Harry Wilson

Position: Winger

Age: 17

Comparisons drawn to: Gareth Bale

Blessed with electric pace and acceleration, and with an eye for goal, the 17-year-old has quickly become the next-in-line to make his senior team debut.

Wilson is a small player, but like Raheem Sterling, he isn’t afraid to go up against bigger defenders and is very aggressive for someone his age. He is very comfortable in possession and an effective dribbler who likes to run at defenders. These traits show that his similarity with Gareth Bale goes beyond their nationalities and preferred foot.

The Welshman has said that he grew up idolising Lionel Messi and Liverpool fans will be pleased if he can be even half as good as Lionel Messi was at the same age.

He has recently been shifted to a number 10 role in attack to increase his awareness of how to use space and attack more efficiently, while also improving the end product to his game. The shift in his role is similar to the one both Sterling and Ibe were subjected to and it benefitted them both.

Wilson made his Wales senior team debut on October 15, 2013, aged 16 years and 207 days. Upon making his debut, he became the youngest ever player to play for Wales, beating the previous record holder Gareth Bale and also Liverpool’s youngest ever International, beating the record previously held by Raheem Sterling.

Interesting Fact: Wilson's maternal grandfather Peter Edwards netted around £125,000 after placing a £50 bet on Wilson becoming an international footballer, when he was just 18 months old.

#3 Sheyi Ojo

Position: Winger/Forward

Age: 17

Comparisons drawn to: Raheem Sterling

Sheyi Ojo signed for Liverpool from MK Dons in 2011 at the age of 14 after the Reds beat off competition from a host of Europe’s top clubs including a rumoured £2m bid from Chelsea.

The 17-year-old was born in Nigeria, but grew up in England and has already represented the Three Lions at the U-16, U-17 and U-18 levels.

The teenager’s comparisons with Raheem Sterling stem from the fact that he is blessed with lightning pace, tenacity, work rate and technical ability beyond his age, and like Sterling, Ojo is versatile as he is capable of operating on either flanks or down the center.

Ojo is an established player in the Liverpool U-21 side and also impressed in the UEFA Youth League, even though he played in age categories above his level and was eventually rewarded by Brendan Rodgers calling him up to the senior side and naming him on the bench for a Premier League game against Burnley on Boxing Day.

He was loaned to Championship side Wigan Athletic in January and earned the man of the match award on his professional debut despite only playing 30 minutes and ending up on the losing side. His impressive performance for the Latics continued and he assisted the only goal of the game on his first start.

Interesting Fact: Ojo was the first MK Dons trainee to receive an international cap at youth level.

#4 Jerome Sinclair

Position: Striker

Age: 18

Comparisons drawn with: Daniel Sturridge

Jerome Sinclair signed for Liverpool as a 14-year-old from West Bromwich Albion in 2011. Sinclair is a good finisher and has a knack of being in the right place at the right time. At 5ft 8in, he may not be very good aerially, but he is very good with both his feet and pace, trickery and acceleration are his weapons.

He spent the 2011/2012 campaign mainly with the U-16 side but made a handful of appearances for the Under-18 team towards the end. His coach Mike Marsh was impressed by his talent and a 15-year-old Sinclair was even invited to rub shoulders with the likes of Jamie Carragher and Steven Gerrard at Melwood, something he later described as a 'great learning curve.'

The teenager was called up to the first team for a third round League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion on 19 September 2012 and came off the bench in the 81st minute to replace Samed Yesil, breaking Jack Robinson’s record as Liverpool’s youngest ever player.

Interesting Fact: Sinclair recently scored a goal against Manchester United’s U-21 side by beating the experienced Victor Valdes at his near post.

#5 Ryan McLaughlin

Position: Right-back

Age: 20

Comparisons drawn with: Glen Johnson (During his peak years)

Ryan McLaughlin signed for Liverpool at the age of 16 from Northern Irish semi-professional club Glenavon in 2011. The now 20-year-old is a pacey attacking right-back by trade but has also been deployed in a left inside-forward role due to his attacking prowess.

Back in 2011, McLaughlin explained how he models his game on arguably the best attacking full-back in world football, Dani Alves. He said, “Everyone knows how good he is going forward but that guy can defend too, you can see that when he goes up against Ronaldo at Real Madrid. I watch him to try and pick up bits because I rate him as the complete right-back.”

His first appearance for the Liverpool first team was against AS Roma in a pre-season friendly back in 2012 and he was up against Roma and Italy legend Francesco Totti. McLaughlin was unfazed by the quality of the player he was up against and kept Totti at bay throughout the game.

Just a month after he played against Roma, he was called up to the senior Northern Ireland squad for a match against Finland but had to withdraw due to injury.

McLaughlin is the perfect answer to Liverpool’s issues at the right-back position. Even though the solution is right under his nose, Brendan Rodgers is yet to use McLaughlin in an official game for the senior team and this has come as a surprise to many.

He spent the latter half of the previous season on loan at Championship side Barnsley and at the end of the season, he made his Northern Ireland senior team debut as a substitute against Uruguay.

McLaughlin’s chance at Liverpool may come next season with Glen Johnson set to leave the club at the end of the current season and reports suggesting the club are looking to end Javi Manquillo’s loan deal prematurely.

Interesting Fact: McLaughlin became the first Liverpool player to appear for Northern Ireland since Elisha Scott 78 years ago.