Rafa's Stars in the Making

Stephen Darby was born in Liverpool and is 21 in October. Like Jay he graduated to Melwood , although a year earlier in 2006. Stephen has captained several of the youth sides that have bought titles back to Anfield under Gary Ablett. Stephen made his first team debut again the Tottenham in 2008

Again we have a young player, who once on the pitch flows with enthusiasm once the ball is at his feet and looks as though he will do equally as well as Jay.

Martin Kelly was born in Whiston and is 19 and also graduated to Melwood in 2007. Unfortunately Martin missed a couple of years training at the academy due to a back problem which he has since overcome but later broke into Gary Ablett's 2007/2008 Reserve team helping them to win the league. He broke into the first team during the Champions League game in December 2008 against PSV Eindhoven. Since then he has got some well needed experience and match practise by going out on loan to Huddersfield Town.

I have not seen a lot of Martin during the reserve games, but feel that he too will make an impact once the games begin to mount up.

To ensure that we have the right quota of home grown players under the new Fifa rules Rafa Benitez has also included Nathan Eccleston and David Amoo. Unfortunately I do not know enough about these players to comment on them, but I am sure that over the course of this football season I will be able to do so.

During his interview today, Rafa said that he felt it would be a great experience for the younger players to take part in the Champions League. They would get a chance to plan with the senior players, learn a lot and get some much needed match practise.
Hopefully they will all get a chance to show Rafa and Sammy Lee what they can do once out on the pitch. Being a great believer in using home grown talent, I am looking forward to watching them all play, even if only for a few minutes at the end of a game. For the player, they are a few minutes that may shape the rest their lives, so I am sure that they will play their heart out whilst thinking of the Liverbird on their chest.
Rafa Benitez also explained that the youngster had been taking part in training sessions at Melwood this week whilst senior players such as Steven Gerrard and Fernado Torres have been away on international duty. This apparently consisted on five a side games and some tactical work. Five a sides, now they were the staple part of Bill Shankly's day on the training pitch and look what happened to those players. They became part of the greatest team in this country. Also the other day, they played a match against the under 18's team from the academy. That as Rafa said is a great idea as it allows the academy lads to see what could happen if they work hard at their football.
On a slightly different note I hope that Rafa Benitez also includes the youngsters in his squad for the league and FA Cup rounds. Although I am not a lover of the rotation policy, I hope that Rafa uses Jay Spearing and Stephen Darby in particular so that his senior players can have a rest. The end result, hopefully being the title coming back to its rightful home.