When a Liverpool XI side travelled to Kidderminster Harriers for a pre-season friendly back in July, Jack Bearne had no idea he would be returning to Aggborough as a loan player little over a month later.
The winger would claim an assist that evening, setting up Leighton Clarkson with a smart backheel from a quickly-taken corner, as the young Reds ran out 3-1 winners. In truth, he was simply picking up where he left off last year, having returned 11 goals and five assists for Liverpool Under-23s in Premier League 2 and the Lancashire Senior Cup as their season ended with silverware.
Boasting four goals from 16 appearances so far this season, the 21-year-old has been in impressive form for the National League North side in recent weeks. Starting their last 11 matches, he has cemented his place in Russell Penn’s side.
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Yet before that run of outings, commencing in November, game-time was sporadic and you could be forgiven for wondering if his temporary move could be cut short in January. Liverpool have recalled Rhys Williams, Billy Koumetio, Max Woltman, James Balagizi, Fidel O'Rourke, and Jakub Ojrzynski already this month, after all.
But having been sidelined through injury at the start of his time with Kidderminster, Bearne has been playing with a point to prove ever since and his happy to be making an impact at Aggborough.
“It was a bit frustrating at the start for me, I had a slight injury that kept me out for a few weeks which might have gone under the radar a bit,” he admitted in an exclusive interview with the ECHO. “But when I came back and got the chance to play, I just wanted to prove to the manager that I could be selected every week and contribute every week.
“I think in the games that I’ve played, I’ve done that so far. I got my first goal against Darlington and a few assists in other games. Hopefully I can continue to do that in any further opportunities I get.
“I’m really enjoying my time at Kidderminster at the moment. It’s a really new experience, an eye-opening experience. Getting used to the new surroundings and the first-team football side of things. But I’m just throwing myself in there and I’m really enjoying it.
“The most important thing is to play games and keep your fitness levels up. It’s great for me to be playing every Saturday and Tuesday night, to get that experience of minutes and hard minutes in a long season, which is what I’ve really desired recently.
“There’s a lot more pressure on the players to deliver, playing in front of fans. There’s three points on the line. There’s a lot of things you need to take into account, like the manager putting the set-pieces on every day. Senior players want to win the game desperately, it’s a really good experience.
“It’s tight at the moment in the league. We’re quite close to the play-offs if we put a run together. But I think the main aim of the team is to just get as many points from as many games as possible. To take each game as it comes.
“There is a lot of football still left to be played. Hopefully I can just contribute with more goals and assists and appearances, wherever the manager wants me to play.”
Scoring his first senior goal, coming off the bench in a 2-1 defeat at home to Darlington at the start of November, was ultimately the turning point for Bearne. A first league start followed later that month as Kiddy scored two late goals to clinch a 2-1 derby win over AFC Telford United, and he hasn’t looked back since.
“(Scoring my first goal) was a great moment,” he said. “There was a lot of rush of blood to the head, thinking what should I do, but I thought the most important thing was to get the ball and come back as we were chasing the game at the time.
“I’ll never forget it. It has definitely given me confidence going into future games, knowing that I can provide goals and assists for the team. Wherever the manager wants me to play, hopefully I can contribute to more points in the future and progress my career on.
“(Telford) was my first league start and it was a great night too to be honest. We struggled during the game at the start but we scored two late goals to turn it around in true Kidderminster fashion. There were quite a few away supporters so after we scored in the 87th minute, it was a great moment.
“I saw my mum and dad in the crowd. They travelled with the Kidderminster fans and gave me a nice, warm reception when I saw them at the end. They loved it. I didn’t realise they were coming. They told me about half an hour before kick-off that they were turning up. They had to travel from Nottingham.
“I saw them after the game. They congratulated me and praised my performance. It was a brilliant night, a memorable night. Hopefully there is plenty more of that to come.”
Bearne isn’t the first Liverpool youngster to have spent time on loan at Kidderminster Harriers in recent years, with Williams spending the 2019/20 campaign at Aggborough. And with the 21-year-old keen to leave on loan himself in the summer, the defender helped him decide that Kiddy was the club for him.
“I really wanted to get out on loan this season,” Bearne admitted. “I feel that I’ve matured a lot in the last couple of years and I really wanted to gain some first team experience somewhere.
“Kidderminster came in for me at the last minute and I was jumping at the chance to come and get some first team football here. It was quite a late one. It was actually the day before deadline day.
“I got a call from their manager saying he’d had Rhys Williams from Liverpool down there before. He had a great experience there and recommended it to me. I spoke to the manager and he was really interested so I went down to Kidderminster the next day.
“Rhys is a great friend of mine. He really enjoyed playing at Kidderminster. He told me about the manager’s desires and what he wanted to get out of him. He said he left as a man and really matured when he was at Kidderminster.
“I thought it was a great place for me to go and learn my trade, hopefully mature a lot and go and play some first team football.”
Bearne continued: “I’ve spoken to Rhys a couple of times (since I joined). He’s congratulated me with a few nice messages and stuff like that. Obviously he knows Kidderminster in and out from his loan. It’s nice to keep in touch with him and he keeps pushing me.
“From the Liverpool coaching staff, the main thing they said was to go out and really give it my all. Keep my standards high and attitude spot on.
“That’s the only thing you can do really, to get yourself in the team and get the respect of the players and the manager. I’m just throwing myself into everything and hopefully I’ll get the best out of it in the long run.”
While Kidderminster might be the first loan move for Bearne’s career, it’s not his first transfer with the versatile forward joining Liverpool from Notts County in April 2017. Then a few months short of his 16th birthday, he impressed against the Reds for the East Midlands club, despite suffering a heavy defeat, before joining on trial ahead of completing the move.
“Liverpool became interested in me around a year before I moved,” he recalled. “I scored a couple of goals (against them) but we must have ended up losing heavily to be honest.
“There were a lot of other players who I’ve played with at Liverpool who were playing that day. It was a real insight into the standard and the way that Liverpool bring their players through their academy.
“I spoke to a few of the people at the club who worked at the academy. They were interested in bringing me in and I had a sort of trial period where I played a couple of games. After that I really wanted to get invested in the club, if they were happy to take me on.
“I wanted to learn as much as good, having seen the pathway that young players have to the first team. The likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and other players who have managed to come through the academy. I thought it was a really good opportunity.”
Since then, Bearne has played once for the Liverpool first team. While not under Jurgen Klopp’s watch, he came on as a substitute as a youthful Reds side lost 5-0 to Aston Villa in the League Cup back in December 2019.
“It’s another experience I’ll never forget. A massive 40,000 crowd at Villa Park,” he said. “All the Liverpool fans that had travelled and supported us right until the end. It was a difficult game but everyone carried out their duties with great personality and character.
“There was a real camaraderie in the group. I thought we were all a credit to ourselves. We really gave everything to the very end.
“(Neil Critchley) Critch said just go and enjoy it (when I came on). There were only 30 minutes of the game left. I thought fresh legs at the time, I’ll just try and run around, make an impact, give all my energy on the pitch and hopefully try to create some stuff for the team.
“He was really proud after the game. He was telling me it was something I’ll never forget and my family will never forget. Just take it all in at the time and hopefully there will be many more opportunities to come.”
Bearne continued: “It was a strange situation really. The first team were obviously away at the FIFA Club World Cup so there wasn’t much first-team staff around. A lot of it was based around the Under-23s staff.
“We tried to prepare as normal, as we would for any other game really. With meetings and the training, hopefully it would all work out on the day. We went into it confident, you have to be confident against any team you’re playing. You have got to back yourself and we just tried to put all of what we did on the training pitch into the game really.
“At the end, their manager, Dean Smith, came into the dressing room. He talked to us all and said how proud of us he was, playing against a full team of internationals. Saying to us that we played really well right until the end and were a credit to ourselves and the football club.
“Klopp spoke to all of the players after the game from out in Qatar and said we were all a credit to ourselves, too. We gave everything on the pitch, you couldn’t ask for more.
“It was a difficult situation, playing against a full set of Aston Villa first team players. For the whole 90 minutes we gave everything and hopefully made the fans proud on the day. I think the manager agreed with that.”
While that outing might remain Bearne’s solitary Liverpool appearance to date, he has trained with Klopp’s first team. As a pacey, versatile forward who primarily plays on the right, cutting inside onto his favoured left foot, and has an eye for goal, it's easy to compare his style to Mohamed Salah. And he admits it was an eye-opener working closely with the likes of the Egyptian.
“At Liverpool last season, during some international breaks I got to train with the first team and learn off some of those players,” he revealed. “Just their movements, wow. I still watch all of Liverpool’s games and just to see their movements and the timing and stuff, it’s really something I try to learn off and put into my own game as well.
“Obviously you’ve got the leaders like Henderson and Milner who really take you under their wing and try to make you feel comfortable. But for me, watching the forward players as a forward myself, watching the likes of Mane where he was still there, Salah, Firmino, Jota - they’re all really sharp.
“They’re always on it, speed and tempo in their passing, their movements. They always finish everything in the box as well, which is really something that inspires me.
“They’ve got so many world class players. You must be a fool not to go into training as a young player and think, ‘How can I learn off these players?’ They’re all world class internationals. Having trained with them, it’s a blessing really, to have learned from them every day.”
Bearne currently looks set to stay with Kidderminster until the end of the season, and admits he isn’t looking beyond that. While he doesn’t know what the future holds with regards to his Liverpool career, he is determined to keep making an impact.
“Wherever you play your football, whether it’s with the Liverpool first team, the youth teams or out on loan, you’ve always got to take everything in at the time and always give 100% in the games and training,” he said. “If you do get your opportunity, you want to take it with the minutes you get under your belt.
“The players out on loan really want to impress and try to show they’re capable of holding their own at first team men's level football. That’s what we really all try to do and hopefully that’s something I continue to do this season, next season and so on.
“In the meantime, I just need to focus on what I can control at this time at Kidderminster. Playing lots of football and hopefully just getting as many games under my belt as I can to try and impress both them and Liverpool.
“You can’t think too far ahead into the future when there is a long season still ahead. I’ve just got to control what I can control, try and play lots of games and cross those bridges when they come.”
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