Academy director Alex Inglethorpe is adamant that Liverpool as a club will be healthier if we get a consistent set of Merseysiders graduating from the youth sides into our first-team, he told the Echo.
This term, local lads Connor Randall and Jordan Rossiter have played for the first-team, while Manchester born Cameron Brannagan has also got minutes and a new contract under Klopp.
But it’s not since Steven Gerrard that we’ve had an automatic starting, top, top player coming through the ranks, although Jon Flanagan has a chance of re-establishing himself on his long awaited return from injury.
Inglethorpe believes it’s key that we improve this, while recognising that the very best foreign talent is also recruited.
“We must be the club that every young Scouse boy wants to play for,” Inglethorpe began.
“We need to bring that back. And we need to make sure we don’t clog the pathways for our own talents in the local area.
“I think it is important that there are young talents coming through who represent the Merseyside area. It’s something which has always been the heartbeat of the team.
“There has always been local boys representing Liverpool and I firmly believe there are local boys in the system currently who will play for this club in the future.
“Of course if a top talent comes along who can go to the top of the group then it’s really important they are considered because it’s a global game. It’s a global market and we have to respect the fact that we should be competing for the best talents, but not at the expense of our own youngsters.
“The blend and the mix has to be right. I don’t think we should take boys just to help us improve teams. That makes no sense to me.
“If we are going to ask a boy to leave his hometown or his country it’s because we believe he has the potential to play for Liverpool, not because we think he’s going to help us win the FA Youth Cup.”
Inglethorpe’s comments make total sense. There’s no point recruiting youngsters and moving them away from their homes to bolster youth sides. They need to have a genuine opportunity of playing for Liverpool, which hopefully, the likes of Bobby Adekanye and Alan Rodrigues do. Pedro Chirivella and Joao Teixeira, both recruited as teenagers, have also made appearances this season.
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