Three highly-rated Liverpool youngsters who failed to make the grade

Bengaluru, March 8: Liverpool are historically one of the greatest and most successful clubs in not only England but also the whole of Europe. A successful club is not only judged by their trophy cabinet but also by a number of other factors.

One of such factors is a club's ability is produce world-class players. Liverpool, throughout their history, have had one of the strongest youth systems in the whole world that have produced world-class footballers like Steven Gerrard, Michael Owen, Jamie Carragher, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman.

In recent years, Liverpool have produced talented players like Suso, Raheem Sterling, Trent Alexander Arnold and many more. But, there have also been some highly-rated players coming out of the Liverpool youth academy who could never make it big.

In this article, we will take a look at three such former Liverpool youngsters in the last decade who have failed to live up to their potential.

Jon Flanagan

Flanagan is right now plying his trade for Rangers in the Scottish Premiership under the management of former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard. The 27-year-old was highly regarded during his Liverpool days and also got his first-team breakthrough at a very young age as well.

An assured full-back who can be useful on either side of the defence, the Englishman played a key role for the Reds in the 2013-14 campaign in which they almost won the Premier League title. Former Brazilian World Cup-winning skipper Cafu once hailed the Englishman as his successor but he failed to reach the level that was expected of him.

Jordan Rossiter

Rossiter once used to be one of the most highly-rated youngsters in the Liverpool academy and former players like Robbie Fowler and Steve McManaman also heralded him as the 'Next Steven Gerrard'. But, the versatile and dynamic midfielder could only manage five first-team appearances for Liverpool before being offloaded to Rangers.

He has not managed to impress at the Ibrox as well and has been allowed to leave on loan for two seasons in a row. He is right now on loan at Fleetwood Town in the League Two of the English Football League system.

Jordon Ibe

Ibe is exactly one year younger than former Liverpool star Raheem Sterling and was once rated as highly as the now Manchester City winger. He showed his glimpses of quality at Liverpool from a very young age but eventually failed to make the grade at Anfield due to strong competition for places.

The fleet-footed winger was snapped up by Bournemouth in 2016 for a club-record fee of £15 million but he has been a massive disappointment at the Vitality Stadium over the years.

The 24-year-old has managed just 227 minutes of first-team football this season for the Cherries and looks to be on his way out of the club in the summer with his contract expiry. Chances of Ibe staying in the Premier League looks very slim as he is clearly not good enough.