Liverpool Youth Teams Thread

Interesting, Jaros would be 28 when it ends.

Let’s see how his future develops.

Well, this sucks.

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The main forum saying Jaros out of contract in June.

https://x.com/AnfieldSector/status/1912151045112803392?t=SJDHt2lZ-oCYXiOH8Qk8bw&s=19

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Really :thinking:

If he has a deal past this summer and he’s in line for a new one, then he could go down Kelleher’s path. We’ll see if there’s a loan at some point if both Alisson and Mama are here next season. Not great for him to be 3rd option for two or more years in a row. But could be 2nd if things happen differently or down the line.

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3rd choice goalie is the life. Do a bit of training, go for a swim, get some physio/massage and get the day off for majority of matchdays.

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Rumor when we signed him was that we planned to send Mama on loan to an EPL side next season before he replaced Alison after Ali’s contract expires at the end of next season. Of course rumors in papers are 100% logic, sound, and reliable at all times…

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It’s an option, so we’ll see. Maybe a team like Bournemouth. But also, they might be tired of goalkeepers on loan, they might want one of their own (Kelleher?).

What is going on with the youth teams?

I know that the point isn’t about winning their respective leagues, but all season long they have been going from one hammering to the next.

The sides are young and inexperienced because loans and recent exits means the U21s are being filled by several players from the U18s and that trickles down. It’s not the worst thing in the world

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They’re not very good, to be honest. The experienced players in the group - Onanuga, Enahoro, Ahmed, Sonni-Lambie and Airoboma - are a lot lower level than we have had previously.

I think its just a natural flow that sometimes the quality of players in the local area just aren’t good enough. It’ll be interesting to see how they perform next season with some of those younger players like Owen, Ayman, Esdaille and Bradshaw becoming the leaders. Bradshaw is a very good player.

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The times I have watched, mainly highlights, our defending looks woeful on the goals we concede and that includes Nallo.

You watch more, what is the issue, as to me it seems it is both individually and collectively.

Yes I agree the defending is very poor. U21s are better than the U18s (where I’m really not seeing a lot of talent currently).

For the U18s like I said I think we just don’t have a very talented group. Not a lot of bought in players in that age group, it’s almost all local kids and unfortunately most of them just look way below the kinds of players we have had previously.

Airoboma and Enahoro-Marcus are both midfielders who were used at RB last season, this season they’ve been the starting CBs and neither has played well there. They just don’t have the ability to do it. Backing them up is Harvey Owen, a new signing coming straight from Wolves’ U16 team and Lucas Clarke who came in from Man City’s U16s. So basically we have 4 CBs in the U18s team, the two who start are not CBs and the ones who are not even scholarship players yet due to their age.

For the U21s I think we have a couple of mistake prone players - Wellity Lucky and Lee Jonas for example. Amara Nallo is a step above them but I don’t think he’s a top quality prospect either. However in his case I’ll make the point that he’s a 1st year U21 player and already captaining that team regularly so I think the club have a lot of faith in him - 1st year U21s often aren’t even starters nevermind captains.

I don’t particularly think it is something to worry about long term, we just have peaks and troughs when we don’t have the same approach as some of the other top clubs. Man City and Chelsea are just signing the best 14/15 year olds from all over the country, we are a bit more reserved and give more opportunities to local players. Sometimes that means they will be found out as not good enough. Man Utd went through it a few years ago, they actually got relegated from the top league but now they are back as one of the best teams in the country. We will likely see the same asthe more talented groups emerge.

FWIW I don’t think the current U15 team, who will start to drip into the U18s over the next season or two, are that great (although they do have a couple of really good wingers). ā€œThe Secret Scoutā€ had a post basically laughing at our U15 team for losing 4-0 to FC Den Bosch’s academy.

The U14 team however is looking really solid at this point (Secret Scout I guess ā€œforgotā€ to mention they beat Den Bosch 8-2) and the U13s and U12s are collecting trophies currently. That may mean nothing when they reach the U18 level but it is promising.

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So we should expect a barren few years for academy graduates making it into the first team?

Not necessarily, there a few out on loan who have a shot (Bajcetic, Scanlon, Chambers, Danns, Doak, Gordon, Koumas) and then we have some good U21s who are still here - Nallo, McConnell, Morrison, Kone-Doherty, Mabaya, Ngumoha, Nyoni, Pinnington. For the U18s I like Joe Bradshaw, one of Harry Evers or Clae Ewing (sorry they play the same position and I get them confused), and Ollie O’Connor. Alvin Ayman was brought in for big money too but he hasn’t done much yet, he may settle down next season and show his ability.

Obviously they don’t all have the same chance at breaking in, maybe time will show that non of them do, but they all have a non-zero possibility of becoming 1st team players.

Watching the West Ham game we had a moment where Jarell Quansah, academy graduate, came on to replace Connor Bradley, academy graduate, and Curtis Jones, academy graduate, was also subbed off. That’s not to mention we had Harvey Elliott and Vitezslav Jaros, who both started their Liverpool career in the academy, on the bench and a world class RB out injured who is also from the academy. That’s pretty cool to have that level of involvement from the youth system and still be winning the Premier League at a canter.

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Thank you for the in-depth reply, really appreciated and I love your insight in regards to the youth teams

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I meant after them, for the batch that you’re talking about.

Genuinely one of my favourite aspects of this team.

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Luke Chambers is back with Liverpool after a back injury ended his season at Wigan. He was their first choice LB but ended up making only 13 appearances this season due to injuries.

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