Five Liverpool academy graduates that flattered to deceive in recent years

By Sudip Banerjee

Updated: Tuesday, September 3, 2019, 12:38 [IST]

Bengaluru, September 3: If you look at most big teams in the world of today, it is quite evident not too many players they have who have emerged from their own academy. Despite the fact that most big clubs have a solid youth setup, most young players do not even get the privilege to make into the senior team. The gap between the youth team and the senior team is quite big and only talent is not enough to overcome that. A lot of other factors also play a big role including sheer luck.

Liverpool boast one of the greatest youth academies in world football that has produced op players like Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen and many more. Trent Alexander-Arnold is the latest big name that has emerged into the Liverpool senior side from their youth ranks but over the last few years, we have seen some amazing youngsters who could never make it big from their youth ranks. In this article, we will look at five of them.

5. Cameron Brannagan

From his very young days, Brannagan became a famous name among the club supporters and interest in him was high with giants like Real Madrid and Barcelona monitoring him. However, his progress at the club was not impressive enough and now he plays in the third tier of English Football i.e. League One for Oxford United. Now aged 23, he is mostly a bit-part player for the League One side and also a forgotten name in the world football.

4. Jordan Rossiter

During his time in the youth setup of Liverpool, Rossiter was hailed as the 'Next Steven Gerrard' which speaks for how talented he was but he went on to become another player who could not live up to his immense promise. He was sold to Rangers three years back but could not make a place for himself at the Ibrox as well and was sent on two back to back loan spells and now with Fleetwood Town who are in the third tier of English football.

3. Jack Robinson

Jack Robinson became the youngest player at the time to have played in a first team match for an iconic club like Liverpool, at age 16 years and 250 days, breaking Max Thompson's 36-year-old record. This is the testimony of the talent he possessed but yet could not make it to the first-team of Liverpool in future. Since then, he has mostly played in the Championship for various clubs.

2. Dani Pacheco

Once upon a time, Dani Pacheco was rated among the top talents in the world of football. The La Masia product was a star of Spain youth system but for the Liverpool senior team, he simply could not take his chances. He appeared in a total of 17 games for the Reds but could not break his duck and was eventually shipped off. Since then, he has been decent in Spain in their second division i.e. Segunda Division winning it twice but he could never become a permanent top tier player.

1. Jordon Ibe

The only player in this list who still plays for a top division club however scarcely is Jordon Ibe. The fleet-footed winger did make a room for himself in the Liverpool senior team but he could not produce enough to made them keep him. He did make 58 appearances for the Reds but his development was not up to the mark and he was the sold to Bournemouth and at there also, he has been only a bit-part player despite being given the no. 10 kit by Eddie Howe who offered him plenty of chances only to be disappointed.

Story first published: Tuesday, September 3, 2019, 12:38 [IST]