Liverpool report back for pre-season training this weekend as Jurgen Klopp’s side look to put last year’s unwanted transitional campaign behind them once and for all.
The Reds’ non-internationals are due back at the AXA Training Centre on Saturday, July 8, with their internationals then reporting for duty on Tuesday, July 11. Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott are due back at a later date with the pair still away with England at the Under-21s European Championships.
But while Klopp’s first team are only back to work on Saturday, the club’s Under-21s and Under-18s, reported back for their own pre-season preparations earlier this week - a week before their senior counterparts. And for some of Liverpool’s starlets, this week has presented them with a final audition to be promoted to the first team before the new season gets underway.
Assistant manager Pep Lijnders reports back for pre-season the same time as the club’s youngsters, in part to run the rule over who could be of use to Klopp and the first team. It was this time last year where the likes of Stefan Bajcetic and Bobby Clark staked their claim for senior involvement, following in the footsteps of Kaide Gordon 12 months earlier.
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“About Kaide, before pre-season we always make sure that our biggest talents start a week earlier than we start,” Lijnders told reporters when explaining Gordon’s rise and the process in September 2021. “They start with the Under-23s training and I went to the Under-23s training ground to watch and I see one player and he has fire in each moment he touched the ball.
“He passes players like they are not standing there so I call Jurgen like, 'Wow, we have a new player here'. We take all these young players to pre-season and you know you have a good player around you is when the senior players start taking care of this young player.
“When you see James Milner speaking with Kaide. When you see Trent becoming a proper mentor. When you see them invite him to sit on the table. All our boys in our group invited him and it made it, not easier, but good for him to adapt to our team and to our style.”
Having missed the past 17 months through injury, Gordon is admittedly likely to remain with the Under-21s this pre-season as he steps up his return. Meanwhile, Clark will look to take his next step after being on the fringes of the first team last year, as Liverpool eagerly await the return of Bajcetic from injury after cementing his first team status during an impressive breakout year.
Ben Doak is also set for first team action this summer, of course, having shone for the Under-18s, Under-19s, and Under-21s last season after joining from Celtic, with his performances also earning him five first team appearances. The likes of Conor Bradley and Tyler Morton will also be looking to make an impression following successful loans with Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn Rovers.
But beyond the hexet, who could be the next youngsters to follow in Gordon and Bajcetic's footsteps and catch Lijnders and Klopp’s eye?
Like Bradley and Morton, Jarell Quansah and Luke Chambers will also be looking to build on successful loans. Unlike the aforementioned pair, the young duo’s first team experience has not yet extended beyond friendly action, but they are well-placed to push on again this summer, with the latter already linked with another loan move to a higher level - reportedly attracting interest from the Championship and Bayer Leverkusen.
Under-21s captain Dominic Corness was a star performer for Barry Lewtas’ side last year, and, with League Cup, FA Cup, and Europa League opportunities lying ahead, will be trying his hardest to knock on Klopp’s door.
Oakley Cannonier, famously the ballboy who assisted Trent Alexander-Arnold’s ‘corner taken quickly’ against Barcelona in 2019, scored 10 goals in 11 PL2 and UEFA Youth League games last season, with the 19-year-old also looking to take that next step and run out for the first team.
Melkamu Frauendorf could be in line for further opportunities too, having made two first team appearances across the previous two seasons, while Harvey Blair will be looked at ahead of a probable loan switch. Elsewhere, James Balagizi will be looking to bounce back after injury ended a promising loan move to Crawley Town, with Isaac Mabaya in a similar boat, having missed the majority of last season through injury after impressing for Klopp’s men last pre-season.
Having been linked with a return to Poland already this summer, and with one year left on his contract, it remains to be seen what the future holds for Mateusz Musialowski. Club sources have confirmed the opportunity of a loan move in search of senior football is possible, as it is with all Under-21s regulars, but nothing is in place at this time.
It is worth noting that Liverpool are well-stocked on the wings at Academy level though, with Doak and Blair just two such examples, with such depth resulting in Elijah Gift being allowed to depart for Athletic Bilbao earlier this summer.
Meanwhile at Under-18s level, Calum Scanlon has his admirers after joining the Reds from Birmingham City as a 15-year-old in a £500k deal in December 2020. Now 18, the left-back made his Under-21s debut last February and will be keen to impress further.
Lewis Koumas, Ranel Young, Trent Kone-Doherty, and Keyrol Figueroa also all impressed for Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s side in 2022/23, and will be looking to work their way up the Liverpool ladder.
