Scouse young guns breaking through the Liverpool FC multi-national ranks
IT IS ARGUABLE that there has never been a tougher time for a local young player to come through the ranks and make the grade at Anfield.
With the top clubs now spreading their nets far and wide when it comes even to youth player recruitment and top managers under increasing pressure to deliver results today not tomorrow, life can rarely, if ever, have been tougher for emerging talent.
Rafa Benitez has made it clear that it is the quality of the player and not his nationality or birthplace which will determine his ability to play for Liverpool and that is why a steady stream of foreigners have been snapped up for the Reds reserves with a view to them making it into the first team at a later stage in their development.
In the last month alone, four youngsters have been brought in from abroad with the most high profile of the quartet, £1.5m signing David Ngog, going straight into Benitez's starting line up for the midweek friendly against Villarreal.
With the bar being raised on youth development and so many players being acquired from far flung places, it would be easy for locally produced players to become disheartened and give up their battle to become regulars in Benitez's side.
But during pre-season, Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby have shown that not only are they willing to accept the heightened challenge, they also have the ability and the self-belief to rise to it.
The pair - who have both captained FA Youth Cup winning teams for the Reds - have impressed everyone with their performances in Liverpool's warm up games and will be given the opportunity to further their progression today against Rangers at Ibrox.
Wirral-born Spearing is certainly enjoying the experience of playing alongside the likes of Jamie Carragher, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres and now he just wants to be given the chance to keep on improving in such company.
"Any time in the first team is good experience for me," he said.
"When you come to places like Villarreal and get to play half a game that's only going to help me improve and I'm enjoying it at the moment.
"It's all about picking up experience and getting minutes on the pitch and hopefully I will be given a few more chances.
"The players around me are helping me because you have to pick up when you're playing with them.
"If you're playing with Xabi Alonso, Stevie G or Damien Plessis or whoever you know you have to raise your game and hopefully I'm doing that and showing the boss what I can do.
"Competition for places is part of the game and it's going to be the same if you're at any of the big four clubs so, like I said, I just have to step up my game and hopefully prove to the boss that I'm at least as good as any of the players he's bringing in.
"It is a challenge but that's what being at a club like Liverpool is all about."
In the dying seconds of Wednesday night's draw against Villarreal, 19-year-old Spearing came within inches of being the match winner when he struck a wonderful 25-yard volley which missed the top corner by inches.
"I didn't see it at first," he admitted. "I just looked up and saw the ball heading to me and decided to hit it first time.
"I managed to catch it quite sweetly but unfortunately it just bent away.
"It would have been nice to score the winner because I thought we played well as a team and deserved to win. It wasn't to be but it was another good workout for us against a very good team."
While Spearing almost scored at one end, fellow 19-year-old and reserve team graduate Darby produced heroics to keep Villarreal out at the other.
Darby, from Maghull, somehow managed to divert a goalbound effort over his own crossbar with the kind of last ditch tackle his mentor Carragher would have been proud of.
Typically of the modest youngster, he does not seek any praise for his efforts, just the opportunity to keep on showing his manager what he can do.
"Defending is a big part of my game so I was just doing my job," he added.
"Obviously the role of a right back has changed now and defenders have to get forward more than they used to so that's something I've got to incorporate into my game.
"It's hard to get into the team because the standard is so high and the manager is bringing players in not just from this country but from around the world. That makes the competition tougher but I'm enjoying getting games during pre-season and hopefully I've shown the manager what I can do."
"I'm really enjoying pre-season," he added. "I went away to the training camp in Switzerland and it was just a great experience to be around all the first team players.
"Everyone has been really good to me, helping me settle in and get used to being around the first team squad.
"The senior players have looked after all of the young lads and that's a big help because it can be a bit daunting when you first come into the squad. They've really made us feel welcome."
Having now made the step up to the Liverpool squad, Spearing and Darby will be doing everything they can to ensure they remain there.
And with Benitez showing he has no fears of pitching them into his side for games against opposition of the standard of Villarreal, their manager is clearly ready to continue giving them their chance.
It remains to be seen if they will ultimately take it but at least the pair are staking their claim and proving in the process that local players can still make the grade at Anfield.
tonybarrett@liverpoolecho.co.uk
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Another very good article, Tony. You & that Tomkins fella do make great reading!
I have wondered for a long time now why so many people question why “so much money� is invested in developing young players at a club like Liverpool when (apparently) so few seem to actually come through into the first team and so much money is spent on bringing in established talent. My initial ‘gut’ reaction would be to agree with this.
Admittedly, it has been nearly 10 years since a certain Steven Gerrard replaced Vegard Heggem in his debut game against Blackburn, and yes, in terms of percentage figures, we are talking about a very small minority who do actually make the breakthrough into Liverpool’s first team. However, in the last 15 years we have been so incredibly lucky to have had 4 genuinely world-class youngsters in Fowler, Carra, Owen and Stevie come through to local, European & international acclaim. That’s 4 great players born, scouted & developed from within a 2-15 miles radius of Anfield! Think about it for one second – THAT TRULY IS INCREDIBLE!
If you were forced to buy those 4 players alone, just 1 or 2 years into their seniors careers, how much would they have cost us? £15-20M? £25-30M? In any case – that figure, right there, has paid for all the efforts put into the academy for all of those years...... and then some!
Of course, many others have more than paid for their own development – the most recent in Danny Guthrie – a lovely player in his own right, and in my fantasy footy team for this season – has brought in (from another Premiership side) around £2-3M in fees for his services.
So, despite being under a foreign coach who has put a great world-wide scouting network and an aggressive youth purchasing policy in place, it is ever so encouraging to see the likes of Spearing & Darby playing in these sorts of games. They now have very valid experience playing amongst and against star players - in a wide range of foreign environments – and not just holding their own, but really looking like ‘genuine articles’.
Anyone who says that we are buying too many Hungarians or Spaniards or Martians should remember that the few local youngsters who do show the potential and are deemed worthy of further time & effort will have had – by necessity – to not only have had to prove themselves against top, top young talent from all over the globe, but will have learnt so much more & developed so much quicker, by playing with these guys, than if they were just playing & training with 24 local boys.
So, whenever I hear the “we’re not developing the local youngsters� line, I always think to myself – would I be happy in 5th place in the league and entry into the Intertoto with 4 or 5 Scouse players in the team – or winning the premiership & champions league with just 2 or 3. That’s not a question that warrants any time and effort at all, and its not like the local lads are no longer getting their chances - of course they are!
If you want to be a force in English, European & World football, then you have to have a blend of English, European & World footballers available in your squad. I completely agree with Rafa, that “the quality of the player and not his nationality or birthplace�, is whats going to get us to that 'top 2 or 3 clubs in the world' level that we're already so nearly at.
When you look at the 16-22 yr-old talent that we have - in the likes of Martin, Gulacsi, Bouzeid, Darby, Roque, Mendy, Insua, Threlfall, San Jose, Hobbs, Antwi, Huth, Ayala, Plessis, Lucas, Spearing, Putterill, El Zhar, Pacheco, Duran, Bruna, Hammill, Anderson, Flynn, Babel, Brouwer, Simon, Ngog, Nemeth, and many others, you have to say that the ‘conveyor belt’ has not just improved since Rafa has come in, but it has improved beyond all comparison!
The future is bright - the future is RED - YNWA – in Rafa......