22 Jan 2020 16:27:56
would you be able to irrationally answer about timings?

i was surprised Millar has returned, i can only assume he will go back out to league one, maybe lower end championship.

{Ed002's Note - He wants out, they would be happy to help - it is a case of finding a buyer who can make an offer that suits the club and the player. It will happen at some point.}

22 Jan 2020 18:19:39
Ed02 I’m sure if a young player isn’t ready or good enough to make the step up at any club they get looked over and eventually sold. It’s not just a Liverpool thing it happens at every club. If they’re good enough they’ll get their chance, it’s up to them if the seize it or not. Just my opinion.

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool are not a club who are known for planning for the futures of players, giving them opportunities and a roadmap. It is not as good as it could be by a long way.]

22 Jan 2020 19:37:04
Seems to be getting better ed getting chances in the cups and planning better loans

Seems to be a lot if dead wood there who haven't had a plan for them.

22 Jan 2020 21:06:21
Deadwood isn’t the nicest terminology to call a child that plays for the club you love.

22 Jan 2020 21:32:17
Would it be wrong to think that come the end of the season, Shaqiri's place in the squad might be replaced by Wilson.?

{Ed002's Note - I would doubt it.}

22 Jan 2020 22:18:29
Ed02 the point I’m making is if they were good enough they’d get the chances, without trying to be or sounding like a dick what other youngsters other than sterling (who had the chance and left) and Suso and playing top flight football? I honestly can’t think of any. If they’re good enough they’ll get their chances, if not sadly they’ll move on, that’s football.

{Ed002's Note - you are living in a slightly bewildered state.}

22 Jan 2020 23:39:31
Peg you are spot on. Ed002 is bitter about something, unsure what but other than Suso, and Sterling who manufactured his own exit, no ex Liverpool youngsters have proven they should of been promoted to our first team.

{Ed002's Note - Try not be a completely embarrassing moron.}

23 Jan 2020 02:26:20
Maneminamino, not sure if you’re new to the site but Ed002 has been saying this for years about our youth system looking out for its youth. As I understand it, it has improved over the past couple of years as youngsters on loan wouldn’t even be kept in touch with by the club. However, it’s not surprising that there is room for improvement.

23 Jan 2020 03:58:43
There is strong evidence to suggest our loan program totally sucked up until recently and so it is likely that Ed002 is correct about Liverpool being poor about planning the future of their lads. It seems we are getting better but if we are honest, we probably have a long way to go. As a side note players such as Adekanye and Ibe are now playing at a high level (not sure whether wee can count the ones plying a trade in Scotland? )

23 Jan 2020 08:09:05
It’s a fact that most youngsters coming through the various academies simply won’t make it at the top level - it’s a big step up to the PL level, and while there are many hopefuls out there, not many spots become free in the PL squads each year.

By definition a lot of these youngsters will ‘suffer the same fate’, and that’s not reason enough to criticise Liverpool because there will always be more players at the junior level than can ever make the first team squad (unless we were to sell all the Liverpool players each season and replace them with the u23’s!? )

Where Ed is 1000% correct though is Liverpool was particularly bad at it before, with many kids not even having a chance at all, or had their careers stalled through no fault of their own. Thankfully we seem to have gotten a lot better IMO and following Trent there seems to be a much closer integration with the academy as was seen in the Everton cup game.

Long may it continue, as each academy player that makes it saves us a fortune, and with a strong spine through the squad now, we can afford to be patient to develop talent rather than having to buy it all in.

23 Jan 2020 11:26:57
Youth development shouldn't be judged by how many players come through to your first-team. it should be judged, 1] by how many players you help to achieve a professional playing career, and 2] by how you help lads transition through playing failure to alternative careers. Most teams do their best with the first but fail when it comes to the latter.

23 Jan 2020 13:11:53
Ibr isn’t playing high level football he’s playing for Bournemouth, which proves he’s not good enough to have played for us. I’ll agree with our loan system and handling of young players is useless. But let’s be honest, if a player is good enough they’ll get there chance and it’s up to them to take it. Out of all of the promising youngsters we’ve had non apart from sterling, Suso and Trent have had the quality to make the step up. Wilson still had the jury out but the like of ibe, Kent, Ojo to name a few just haven’t had what it takes. So I’ll say it again if they’re good enough they’ll get their chance, if not they’ll get overlooked and moved on. It really is that simple.

It’s just came to me Connor coady is playing at a decent level but not sure if he’s good enough to play for us.

23 Jan 2020 13:02:52
Ed thank you for your response! Apologies if I opened up a can of worms.

Firstly deadwood shouldn’t be used to describe a young player, it is a bit blunt.

Secondly, whilst we are getting better at youth development and plans in place, as you say Ed we are still way behind where we should be!

Whilst a lot of players aren’t going to make it, we need to make sure we are maximise their potential so that they can have a career and potentially some return to be put back in the academy.

I guess Ed what would be interesting on your take how the company need to go about improving their youth systems and development plans?

{Ed002's Note - The club's interest has shifted to buying the best youth players that they can rather than having them coming through the system now - that is potentially problemmatic in the future and they will need to improve their development through loans etc..}

23 Jan 2020 13:31:46
ed002 can you point to 10 club that has had a lot of youth players break in to the first team and stay there in the last 10 years. Because I can't think of any not sure if its a Liverpool thing or just how football has been for a long time now.

{Ed002's Note - Barcelona, Ajax, Partizan Belgrade, Sporting, PSV, Santos, Benfica, Braga, Anderlecht, Feyenoord.}

23 Jan 2020 14:09:08
Barcelona? Surely you're having a laugh there mate. Apart from Sergi Roberto, every single La Masia product to come through in the last 10 years has been frustrated at the lack of playing time to the point where they don't even wait till they are next in line, they just straight up leave for clubs like Dortmund.

{Ed002's Note - So you are putting aside the likes of Messi, Busquets, Fabregas, Pedro, Xavi, Iniesta, Valdes, Roberto, Busquets, Pique and Puyol? When you know so little it is best to say nothing. I am sure they all did great at Dortmund.}

23 Jan 2020 14:18:46
so no premiership side then I do think with how competitive the prem is it make it harder for the young player to get a run of games compared to other leagues. Ole is given a lot of young player a run this season and is getting a lot of stick. I all so think some of these young players think they have made it all ready playing for u23 and it is up to them to do more. I think a cap on wages for young players would go a long way to helping this when you see them on more money than players playing week in week out in league's 1 and 2. I see 4 years ago Liverpool put salary cap of £40000 a year for under 17 for me that's way to much unless they are playing first team football most weeks god knows what I would have been like with that sort of money at 16.

{Ed002's Note - You did not ask about a PL side. This is embarrassing.}

23 Jan 2020 14:28:42
Let's be honest here we are not exactly known for promoting our young guns and but instead opting to buy ready made talent. While it seems to have gotten the desired results it is safe to say that majority of the young players in the team will not be afforded the chance to shine and build something for them selves here.

23 Jan 2020 15:27:05
Very few youth academy players make the grade and there is obvious
reasons for it, A- not good enough, B- exceptionally strong first team. Liverpool have turned their academy into a shrewd business, young players are commodities which are disposable at the right price, this unfortunately is the nature of the business, Sterling is a good example, he was pillaged from QPR had a low cost and moved on for substantial profit, albeit not what LFC wanted. Jordan Ibe was purchased and moved on in a similar fashion. Solanke was purchased at a reasonable price through a tribunal and sold for profit, Ryan Kent and Harry Wilson will also follow suit, Kent and Wilson are good players but obviously not good enough to compete or displace the likes of Salah and Mane. The purest may not agree with this strategy but it has served Liverpool well, look at it this way, the sale of Ibe, Solanke, Kent and Wilson could get you a Timo Werner!

{Ed001's Note - that is not academy players, they are bought not produced.}

23 Jan 2020 15:51:27
I wouldn't swop Cutis Jones, or TAA both who have been at Liverpool since they were 7 years old, for any of Barcelona's kids.

23 Jan 2020 17:37:10
The problem how I see it is, in our country youth football isn’t competitive enough. They might stand out in the academies because the standard of football is so poor but find it hard to make the step up to senior football.
Chelsea has it right as far as I’m concerned, they loan their brightest players out to competitive leagues that help them develop. The way we do it is amateurish at best, I was really hoping wilson would make it with us but not so sure now. One thing I will say though, the last two loans have been productive and I think he’ll end up playing premiership football. Sadly the same could of been said with all our promising stars if they’d been utilised correctly and had the right type of loans put in place for them. Suso could well of been playing for us, Kent, ojo, Ibe and so on could all of benefited from going out on loan and playing competitive football at championship or premiership level.
A good loan would be more beneficial to players such as Curtis jones, Elliot, Williams etc than playing the odd cup game. Sadly that won’t happen when you still have people at the club and fans thinking the odd cup game is better for their development.

23 Jan 2020 15:18:15
No, but Grino asked for the past 10 years. None of those players broke through in that time period. In the last 10 years, Barcelona have been buying and buying and buying to fill their squad rather than using La Masia as they had in the past. It's why highly rated prospects like Sergio Gomez and Alex Grimaldo left, why even established squad players like Thiago left.

{Ed002's Note - I have not got time to go and check. You keep trying make yourself look stupid trying to defend the approach Liverpool take.}