Ranking the Top 6 Teenagers to Have Played for Liverpool Since 2000
Throughout the years, Liverpool's academy has been peppered with exceptional young talent, from the likes of Billy Liddell and Ronnie Moran from the 1940s and 1950s, to those who provided a flourish to Roy Evans' attractive attacking side of the 1990s, such as Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler.
The appointment of Jurgen Klopp as manager in October provided the Reds' youth ranks with another boost, with the German coach telling reporters on his arrival: "When I am managing a club I think each young player should smile, because the door is wide open for him."
Klopp handed debuts to four teenagers in his first season with the Reds, with Ryan Kent, Joe Maguire, Sheyi Ojo and Sergi Canos enjoying their first outings in a Liverpool shirt.
Klopp also called upon Jordon Ibe, Cameron Brannagan, Pedro Chirivella, Jordan Rossiter and Jerome Sinclair among others throughout the campaign, highlighting his faith in youth.
With club owner Fenway Sports Group handing Klopp a new six-year contract ahead of 2016-17, figureheads John W. Henry, Tom Werner and Michael Gordon released a joint statement proclaiming: "In Jurgen we have someone who is always looking ahead."
Klopp is well-placed to preside over the next generation of talented youngsters on Merseyside, continuing a long line of positive development at the club's academy and into the first team.
But which players will Klopp's new breed look up to since the turn of the millennium? Here we rank the top six teenagers to play for Liverpool since 2000, including two players in the 49-year-old's current squad.
6. Joe Gomez
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Development in the tactical ideals of the modern manager has called for a new profile of centre-back, and in former Charlton Athletic defender Joe Gomez, Liverpool possess the ideal, progressive option—one Klopp can build around for the future.
Gomez signed with the Reds in 2015, leaving the Valley in a deal worth around £3.5 million. He immediately impressed as part of Brendan Rodgers' squad for Liverpool's pre-season tour of East Asia and Australia.
The England Under-21 international played a key role on Rodgers' left defensive flank, and this continued into the 2015/16 campaign, with Gomez making seven appearances for the club across the Premier League and the UEFA Europa League.
His season ended before he could showcase his talents on the training field in front of Klopp, suffering an ACL injury while on duty with the Three Lions' youth side. However, the 19-year-old remains one of the most outstanding teenage talents Liverpool have possessed in a number of years.
Speaking to The Redmen TV before Gomez's move to Anfield last summer, Charlton writer Joe Hall likened Gomez to former England stalwart Rio Ferdinand: "One of Ferdinand's greatest strengths was he was a footballer—he carried the ball out of the defence—and Gomez has definitely got that."
A modern, ball-playing centre-back, blessed with pace and defensive intelligence, Gomez hopes to establish himself under Klopp on his return from injury.
5. Jordon Ibe
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Jordon Ibe's £15 million move to Bournemouth this summer was something of a disappointing blow to the Reds' academy, with the young winger touted as one of the most promising talents at Melwood in many years.
Ibe made history with his former club Wycombe Wanderers, becoming both their youngest Football League player and their youngest Football League goalscorer when he broke through as a 15-year-old.
This prompted Liverpool to secure his signature in 2012 when he was just 16 years old, and Ibe quickly progressed through the youth ranks, owing to his dominant physique and unpredictable attacking style.
Making 58 appearances for Liverpool, despite only turning 20 in December, Ibe's prominent role in the first team under both Rodgers and Klopp highlighted his status as an exceptional young player.
Though he fell down the ranks towards the end of 2015-16, leading to his move to Dean Court, Ibe remains one of the most exciting teenagers to break through the ranks on Merseyside since 2000. With Liverpool negotiating a buy-back clause in their deal with Bournemouth this summer, he could well make his return.
4. Mikel San Jose
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Spanish defender Mikel San Jose failed to make a single appearance for the first team in his three years on the books at Liverpool, before joining Athletic Bilbao in 2010, so he still represents the one that got away from the Reds' youth system.
After impressing in the academy at Bilbao, San Jose arrived on Merseyside in 2007 at the age of 18 and showcased his talents in two seasons with the Liverpool reserves in 2007/08 and 2008/09. His imposing physique aided him as he slotted into a number of roles in the defensive sector.
Most comfortable at either centre-back or in the holding midfield role, San Jose has gone from strength to strength with Bilbao and has made 266 appearances for the Basque Country outfit, scoring a remarkable 31 goals as a defender.
Tall, strong, tactically intelligent and versatile, San Jose is exactly the calibre of player Liverpool are crying out for in the present day, with Klopp's squad noticeably thin at the base of their midfield.
This highlights Liverpool's poor decision-making when it came to San Jose's future. They seemingly failed to spot that this was a teenage talent capable of shining at the highest level in the Premier League, and so he left in 2010, the same summer as Javier Mascherano—the Reds' last great defensive midfielder.
3. Sheyi Ojo
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The second of our top six teenagers to currently ply their trade for Merseyside, 19-year-old winger Sheyi Ojo is preparing himself for a breakout campaign in 2016-17, as he told FourFourTwo ahead of the new season:
"Last season was a memorable season for me. It went really well and I learned a lot as a player and a person. I’m looking to use that this season.
I’m not where I want to be yet. There are a lot of things that I need to do and a lot of hard work needs to be put in for me to get there.
My main aim is to break into the first team on a full-time basis, and keep progressing.
"
Ojo joined the Reds from MK Dons in 2011 and quickly established himself as one of the best players in both the under-18 and under-21 ranks. He paired impressive physicality with excellent technical skills and, perhaps separating him from Ibe, the tactical intelligence to match.
This is likely why Ojo jumped ahead of Ibe in Klopp's first-team thinking in the latter half of last season. The youngster made 11 appearances for Klopp, scored one goal and laid on a further four assists.
Ojo has underlined his potential to become an excellent Premier League winger by continuing his impressive form this summer with the England Under-19s at the European U19 Championship and with Liverpool on their pre-season tour of the United States.
Whether he leaves the club on loan this summer or stays to challenge the likes of Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana for a starting role, Liverpool have a sensational young talent in Ojo.
2. Raheem Sterling
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The benchmark for Ojo, and for every young Liverpool player in recent years, is most certainly Raheem Sterling, whose meteoric rise into the Reds' first-team ranks from the age of 17 saw his stock soar.
Sterling was handed his debut by Kenny Dalglish in 2012, but it wasn't until Rodgers' arrival that he truly established himself as a key player on Merseyside, with his role in Liverpool's 2013/14 Premier League title challenge highlighting his remarkable potential.
Able to play in any role across the forward line, Sterling proved most effective in the No. 10 role behind Rodgers' strike pairing of Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez, and it was a testament to his prodigious talent that he outshone the senior duo in the latter months of the campaign, spurring his side on to a second-placed finish.
Sterling earned a £49 million move to Manchester City in 2015, and while his maiden campaign at the Etihad Stadium fell short of the high standards set during his time at Liverpool—where he scored 23 goals and laid on 25 assists in 129 first-team games—he remains one of the brightest young prospects in England.
"He is the best young player in European football at the moment," Rodgers told reporters in 2014, and if it weren't for a certain long-serving captain, Sterling would have been the best teenager to play for Liverpool this millennium.
1. Steven Gerrard
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An inspiration for every player who joins Liverpool, be it in the academy or arriving as a first-team talent, Steven Gerrard serves as the standard bearer for young talent on Merseyside and boasts a legacy as one of the Reds' best-ever players.
Gerrard made his debut for the club at the age of 18, coming on as a substitute for the closing stages of Liverpool's 2-0 league win over Blackburn Rovers towards the end of 1998, and while his first outing in a red shirt was far from outstanding—given little time to impress—he quickly made a name for himself.
He went on to make 690 appearances for Liverpool, scoring 180 and assisting a further 100, captaining his boyhood club for 12 years—taking over from the formidable Sami Hyypia in 2003—before leaving to join LA Galaxy last summer.
Regularly named alongside the likes of Dalglish, Ian Rush, John Barnes and Kevin Keegan as one of the best players to turn out for the club in their long and storied history, Gerrard is a real success story for the Liverpool academy.
Sterling, Ojo, San Jose, Ibe, Gomez and their multitude of young colleagues throughout the years on Merseyside will all hold Gerrard up as an inspiration—as the best teenager to play for the Reds in decades.
Statistics via Transfermarkt.co.uk.
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