Top 10 Liverpool youth prospects

Jordan Rossiter, central midfielder, 16-years old

Liverpool fans have been hearing mentions of this name for a while, usually accompanied by vast array of superlatives, but it usually is hard to believe the hype of any young player until you actually see what he is all about in a run of games. Let me say that this kid is a bit special. When teams line up, you won’t notice this Liverpool-born lad because his physique doesn’t really stand out of the crowd. When the ball kicks off, however, you will notice a kid with burning desire to take control of the game. Whether he does it through smart distribution of the ball or tough, crunching but well-timed tackles is irrelevant. He is ambidextrous, good passer with good control of the ball and loves to play simple passes and one-twos to orchestrate the way his sides builds attacks. Even though he is naturaly a forward-thinking central midfielder, this season he is playing as the most withdrawn of three midfielders, tasked with shielding his back line, winning possession and controlling the tempo of the game. So, it’s fair to say that his game is all about timing – timing of passes, timing of tackles, timing of forward runs, and his age that gives him plenty of time to expand his all-round ability and perhaps add more influence to the scoreline. An unassuming character with will to win and lead his teammates by example (sounds familiar, Liverpool fans?) even at such tender age, Rossiter is on fast-track to first team, having recently started in U21 side against their Manchester United counterparts, where he never looked out of place – quite the opposite. Many Liverpool fans will eagerly follow his progress and hope that he will be the one, though not the only, to take over the mantle of Liverpool’s Scouse greats.

João Carlos Teixeira, central attacking midfielder, 20yrs

Buying a player while he is seriously injured, regardless of his talent, is always a gamble. Sometimes it backfires. Sometimes it pays off. In any case, it is a testament of how highly the buying club rates the quality of such a player. João Teixiera is one from that group. A product of renowned Sporting Lisbon academy and a Portuguese youth international, he was spotted while he was busy tearing apart the team of his Liverpool counterparts in first iteration of NextGen Series. His quality was evident: he was quick, difficult to read, constantly moving with and without the ball and was the organiser of his team’s moves because of his uncanny control , vision and livelyness. When Liverpool decided to follow up their interest with a formal bid, his back was in a brace due to a serious injury as he had already been sidelined for at least half a year – which didn’t put Frank McParland and his colleagues off his trail. When he finally recovered, Liverpool fans were left impressed with his overall quality as he simply carried on where he left off with his previous club. Safe to say, he has outgrown the youth levels of English football and now finds himself available on loan. Big league clubs like Bologna have already been voicing their intents to borrow his services for one season at least. ( ed note: Teixera has recently joined Brentford on loan )