Jurgen Klopp's kids have faded from the prominence that saw Liverpool win the Carabao Cup and send English football into a frenzy last season.
Injuries galore at Anfield; Klopp announced he would depart at the end of the season. All was not well, but Liverpool's injury-hit first team somehow overcame its issues, with many academy stars playing instrumental roles.
It was summed up when Gary Neville infamously remarked that "Klopp's kids beat Chelsea's billion-pound bottle-jobs" after that extraordinary Carabao Cup final victory, Virgil van Dijk reminding his younger peers who's boss with the winning contribution.
Harvey Elliott
21 y/o
53
4
11
Trent Alexander-Arnold
25 y/o
37
3
9
Curtis Jones
23 y/o
36
5
3
Caoimhin Kelleher
25 y/o
26
0
0
Conor Bradley
20 y/o
23
1
6
Bobby Clark*
19 y/o
12
1
2
James McConnell
19 y/o
9
0
1
Ben Doak*
18 y/o
6
0
0
Jayden Danns
18 y/o
5
2
0
Kaide Gordon*
19 y/o
3
0
0
Stefan Bajcetic*
19 y/o
2
0
0
Lewis Koumas*
18 y/o
1
1
0
Trey Nyoni
17 y/o
1
0
0
Now, later into the year, Arne Slot is the new man in the dugout and Liverpool's youthful cohort has been trimmed. Slot is a practical boss, businesslike, and has shipped out several younger stars over the past few months.
Liverpool have also sold talented young duo Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford, with both enjoying productive loan spells last season. Bobby Clark has also joined RB Salzburg in a £10m move, taking Liverpool's summer sales total past £60m.
Elsewhere, fans might have been disappointed to see Ben Doak shipped out to Middlesbrough in the Championship on a season-long loan deal, but there is a good reason…
Why Liverpool have loaned out Ben Doak
Liverpool signed Doak from dominant Scottish giants Celtic in 2022, paying a compensation fee of about £600k for a winger carrying all the properties of a world-class superstar, later down the line.
Small in stature but powerful and ferocious, Doak started to break into Klopp's plans last season and even started three times in the Europa League group stage, completing 2.7 dribbles and winning 4.7 duels on average per game, as per Sofascore.
He's clearly a player of significant potential and was even proclaimed to be a "prodigy” by Liverpool youth correspondent Keifer MacDonald, with his agent, Jackie McNamara, even dubbing him the "Scottish Wayne Rooney" for his electric pace, seat-raising potential and natural-born strength, despite a diminutive height.
A meniscus injury cruelly ended his season among Klopp's seniors in December, and he would not feature again that term. It's with that in mind that Doak has likely been pushed to a temporary exit, for he will need to hone his craft and build his match fluency.
There's something of a tacit sense at Liverpool that the right-sided forward could have served as Mohamed Salah's understudy, but Liverpool's £10m signing of Federico Chiesa has effectively precluded him from earning regular minutes this season, so a move away made sense.
He may yet thrive on Merseyside, but not all of the exciting youngsters will cement lasting roles in the Liverpool powerhouse. However, there are one or two still yet to make their senior debut who stand a very good chance, with none more so than Kieran Morrison.
Kieran Morrison, remember the name
Morrison might come to surpass Doak, he's that good. Liverpool's Scottish prospect has posted 11 goals and eight assists over 29 matches for the Reds' various youth levels, and his 17-year-old peer is demonstrating an even more clinical rate.
The Northern Ireland youth international signed his first professional contract with the club earlier this year, and he's certainly not failing to repay the faith thus far, having even been praised for his "sublime" performances by journalist Lewis Bower.
Last season, he'd yet to be promoted from the U18s to the U21s, but still enjoyed an impressive haul of 11 goals and four assists across 20 matches in the U18 Premier League.
However, the talented winger found his greatest success on the right, actually scoring seven goals from just 11 outings on that flank, something that suggests that he could make for some prolific competition for Doak, jockeying for the spot in Slot's first team.
He's yet to reach his 18th year, but despite this has now been called up to the U21s opening his account with a brace against Sunderland on Monday evening.
His dribbling skills also helped James Balagizi score the other goal in the emphatic victory, showing shades of Luis Diaz in doing so.
Diaz has been immense across the opening weeks of the Premier League season, scoring a brace against Manchester United last time out after claiming a goal and an assist apiece during the Reds' previous victory over Brentford in the Premier League.
Described as a "livewire" by journalist Peter Hall, he's one of the finest ball carriers in the Premier League, averaging 2.3 dribbles per game across his opening three matches, as per Sofascore.
The 27-year-old was consistently linked with a move away in the summer, with Barcelona known admirers, but nothing very concrete actually materialised and he is now looking to enjoy his most productive campaign yet, very much starting out on the right foot.
Liverpool youth manager Marc Bridge-Wilkinson has indirectly suggested that Morrison could emulate such a player, previously saying: "Kieran is a good technician. He is good with the ball at his feet, he likes to carry the ball and he can go past people and he can finish. He’s not afraid to risk the ball at the right times and try to create something for the team."
With both wingers, a decade apart in age, starting the 2024/25 campaign off so well, it's conceivable to think that Morrison could find himself making his senior debut at some point this year.
If he can make enough of an impression, he might even leapfrog Doak, emerging as the lightning-charged type of wide forward to gift the Liverpool support with their next version of Diaz.
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