Liverpool FC: Five Youngsters Out on Loan Who Could Make a Future Impact
When the new owners took over the club last year in October, they openly talked about their designs to take the club forward.
Liverpool currently have, arguably the best group of youngsters, a mix of players produced by the Academy as well as young players signed from other academies.
Players like Martin Kelly and Jay Spearing from the Academy and Jonjo Shelvey signed from Charlton, have already started making their presence felt on the first team, with Martin Kelly becoming a regular starter under Dalglish.
There are a number of other youngsters on the roll at Liverpool, who are expected to make an impact in the next 2-3 years. Though Liverpool is no Arsenal, where players are thrown into the deep end at 17 years of age, they still have realised the importance of providing their youngsters with first-team action.
This has led to a series of Loan deals for their players. Currently, Liverpool have nine players out on loan to other clubs.
Except the case of Konchesky(whom Liverpool might be looking to off-load), Aquilani (whose loan deal is closer to a sale with a buyout clause) , El-Zhar and Degen, the others seem to be for player development rather than for off-loading.
The slide-show looks at the five youngsters who are out on loan at various clubs, some of whom could be future stars for Liverpool.
5. Stephen Darby
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A player who has spent most of his time at the Liverpool academy and played a major role in the Youth Cup victories of 2006 and 2007. He was the captain in first of the youth team triumphs in 2006. He was also the reserves captain when Liverpool Reserves won the Dallas Cup and the National Reserves league in 2008.
Primarily playing as a Right-back, he has already made five starts for Liverpool, though only one of them in the league.
He is currently at Notts County and has already made 11 starts in the three months he has been there, earning a Man of the Match performance along the way.
He has also spent another season on-loan at Swindon Town, where he scored the decisive penalty to take his team to the play-off finals.
At 22 years years of age, he is not getting any younger, however, he is seen as someone who can still develop into a good player. His emergence at the right-back position might also free up Martin Kelly to play at his preferred Center-Back position in the future.
4. Chris Mavinga
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He followed David N'gog from Paris St. Germain in 2009 and the signing of this promising defender was considered to be a huge surprise considering that Arsenal were also in the hunt.
Though, he can also play in the center of defense, he could ultimately become the solution to the problems of Liverpool at his preferred left-back position. He played against his Liverpool team-mate Pacheco in the finals of the U19 Euro and helped his France team come up on top in that contest.
The 19-year old has been sent out on loan to the Belgian giants Genk for the rest of the season, where the player is expected to gain valuable experience in a team which is known for its defensive brilliance in the League, conceding just 19 times in the first 20 matches.
Mavinga is now expected to stay at Liverpool following the dismissal of Roy, when he had complained about the preferential treatment that the English players received under Roy. He is at the crucial juncture when any defender, along with being technically adept, needs to develop those physical attributed to succeed in the league. The fans would be hoping that he is able to achieve that.
3. David Amoo
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This youngster signed from Milwall in 2007 has made rapid progress from being in the Youth team to the reserves, also getting his first team debut against Rabotnicki in the Europa qualifiers.
Though initially,he was playing as a striker, his more prolific moments have come while playing as a winger in the Liverpool reserves team.
He has represented London as a sprinter in the National Championships and hence his natural pace makes him the ideal candidate to be a winger, with an ideal comnination of strength and trickery to complement his speed.
Whether his attributes, which are good enough for the Youth and Reserve teams develop to be good enough for the Premier League is yet to be seen.
However to continue his development, the Liverpool hierarchy decided to send him out on a month long loan to the League One side MK Dons, where he has already made his first appearance as a 65th minute substitute against Leyton.
Like Mavinga who could be the solution to the left back problem, Amoo could be the player that could provide that much needed burst of speed down the flanks for the Liverpool team who obviously are short of players with genuine pace.
2. Nathan Eccelston
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The 20-year old Manchester born striker is considered to be one of the brightest prospects coming through the ranks at Liverpool.
Eccleston can play both as a striker or play the support striker. His greatest quality is considered to be his pace which he uses effectively to score his goals.
His quality can be judged by the fact that he has already made 9 appearances for the first team, though most of them were from the bench. He spend around 5 months on loan at Huddersfield last season scoring once for them in 12 appearances of which 8 were from the bench.
This year again he has been sent out on loan to Charlton Athletic where he has already scored his first goal for the team in his second appearance against Plymouth.
With two loan spells and a handful of first team appearances under his belt, he would be expected to start contributing on a more regular basis to the first team ,atleast in the Cup matches.
1. Emiliano Insua
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I know that many fans would be ready to pounce on me for having Insua on the top of this list. I would however, like to point out the case of Lucas, who, when given a fair chance, developed into a decent player.
The 20-year old left wingback from Argentina has already made 62 appearances for the Reds. He might have been thrown into the deep end a bit too soon, when he might have been better off by playing for the reserves or spend a spell on loan before being integrated into the first team.
His play has been great going forward but has been found wanting defensively on more than one occasion. His mistakes have sometimes made the fans forget the fact that he is only 20 and still learning the tricks of the game.
Personally, I feel that the deal with Fiorentina falling through was one of the best things to happen as it forced Liverpool to send him out on loan to a club like Galatasaray where he would continue his development. I would certainly want him to come back to play for Liverpool one day.
In Conclusion
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In addition to all the youngsters mentioned in the list, Liverpool also have a decent number of other youngsters as well, who have not gone out on loan. With Kelly, Spearing and Wilson already knocking on the doors of the first team, the time might not be far off when the youngsters at Liverpool start making a noticeable impact at the club.
The policy of promoting youngsters is also reinforced by the fact that 17 year olds like Suso and Raheem Sterling have been given first team squad numbers.
Also, players like Pacheco are expected to be given more chances under Kenny.
With the Liverpool also signing a young strike force, the Young Revolution at Liverpool is not far off.
