Jordan Rossiter has defended Brendan Rodgers’ transfer policy – telling the Liverpool Echo that the boss is fully committed to giving young Reds a chance in and around his first-team.
Rodgers was widely criticised following the summer transfer window, after allowing young players such as Lazar Markovic and Tiago Ilori to leave on loan, both of whom must have been hoping to be handed a chance to prove themselves for their parent club.
But Rossiter, who made his Premier League debut against Arsenal last month, says that Rodgers is very good at developing young players – as underlined by the fact that he took a handful of his best academy talents, also including Sheyi Ojo and Ryan Kent, on our pre-season tour of the Far East.
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He told the Echo: “I’ve had a good pre-season and been working really hard to impress. Luckily I managed to get my first Premier League appearance last week.
“The gaffer is great at Liverpool and he is always giving youngsters a chance. There were seven or eight of us that went away in pre-season with the first-team. You don’t see that as much with some other clubs but we know if we are doing things right on and off the pitch he is always willing to give us a chance.”
The 18-year-old midfielder’s talent first came to light when he scored on his senior Liverpool debut in the League Cup last year – netting the opening goal in our win over Middlesbrough.
He had to wait almost a full year for appearance number two, which surprisingly came at the Emirates Stadium, but he did well as the Reds made sure we took a point back to Merseyside.