Liverpool Starlets: 4 Youngsters Tipped for the Top Who Never Made the Grade

As the new season draws closer for Liverpool, fans are encouraged—amongst other things—by the rate of progress of the young players at the club and how they have handled the step up to first team football.

At the back end of 2010-11, Jay Spearing and Martin Kelly both broke into the first-team picture before Jack Robinson and John Flanagan followed in their footsteps.

Those players, in turn, are the big players to look up to for Conor Coady, Stephen Sama, Raheem Sterling and several other youngsters who are on the verge of getting involved with the first team.

Proof, if any were needed, that the route from Academy and reserve team football to playing for Liverpool's first team amongst one-time Academy players Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher is well and truly open.

Some of these players have huge reputations already, despite their tender years and total lack of experience playing the professional game, none more so at this moment perhaps than young winger Sterling, who featured Monday for the Reds in the friendly draw against Valerenga.

Some of those highly rated lads may go on to make it at Anfield. Some may make it elsewhere in the league or have to drop down a division or two, such as Neil Mellor, pictured here after scoring a last-minute, Kop end winner against Arsenal. He spent last season playing on loan for Sheffield Wednesday from Preston North End.

But for some, unfortunately, the future holds a life away from professional football.

Some, for whatever reason, will not make the grade.

Here is a list of the five highest-rated youngsters from the Liverpool Academy who disappeared into obscurity without making any telling impact on the professional game in England.

Perhaps this should serve as a reminder for some of those fans who demand youngsters' inclusion in the side before their time has come.

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Jamie Cassidy: Central/Left Midfielder

Part of Liverpool's under-18 team which won the prestigious FA Youth Cup Final in 1996, Jamie Cassidy was the central midfield hub of the side which contained players such as David Thompson and Michael Owen.

Jamie Cassidy was seen as one of the most talented parts of that side, with excellent passing and dribbling skills and pace to burn and was a shoo-in to make it to big time with the club.

Such was his renown within the game at a young age that then-England manager Glenn Hoddle took the teenager away on an international week to be around the full setup and experience being part of an elite group.

Expectations were high for Cassidy, but injury struck him down, and he never recovered the searing pace which was his trademark, dampening his effect on the game.

He left Liverpool in 1999 without progressing to the first team, signing for Cambridge United. He played 10 professional games for the lowly East Anglian outfit before falling into non-league football with the likes of Cambridge City, Northwich Victoria and Burscough.

Photo courtesy of liverpoolfc.tv.

David Mannix: Central Midfielder

A wonderful midfielder with an exceptional passing range, Reds fans waited a long time for David Mannix's breakthrough to the first team after a long period of promising performances for the reserves.

At just 15 years of age Mannix was promoted to the reserves side and featured regularly for the next few seasons.

However, he found himself beset by injury problems, particularly to his knee, and the club sent for him to be treated by Dr. Richard Steadman, the surgeon who operated on the likes of Alan Shearer and Michael Owen, so highly was Mannix regarded by the club.

It was not to be though, and the central midfielder found himself unable to perform at the level he had been hoped to reach.

His contract was eventually terminated by the club in 2006 after a one-game spell on loan with Accrington Stanley, and Mannix moved to Norwegian Second Division side Ham-Kam.

From there, he joined Accrington Stanley again before moving to Chester City, where he was involved in a match-fixing scandal and subsequently banned for 10 months.

Failed trials at more than one club followed before he joined non-league outfit Vauxhall Motors, having amassed less than 50 professional league games in his career.

Adam Pepper: Attacking Midfielder/Forward

Once dubbed the new Wayne Rooney, Adam Pepper was a wanted man from a very early age with the likes of Manchester City wanting to sign him up as well as the two Premier League Merseyside clubs.

Pepper eventually plumped for Everton, being the team he supported but at 14 made the switch to Liverpool's Academy where he graduated through the system, finally becoming an integral part of the under-18 side.

He was praised for his ability to move with the ball and score goals from anywhere on the pitch, epitomised by his Xabi Alonso-style goal from the halfway line in a league game for the under 18s.

Playing either in midfield or just off the striker, Pepper had an eye for a pass and was as highly praised for his attitude and focus on his football as much as for his ability on the pitch.

However, despite being labelled a sure thing for the first team within a few years, Pepper never progressed beyond the under-18 side, remaining there for three years before his release from the club in summer 2010.

Pepper turned out last season for Welsh league outfit Aberystwyth Town.

Astrit Ajdarevic: Central Midfielder

Astrit Ajdarevic was one of Rafael Benitez's signings, one of a group of foreign youngsters brought into the club's Academy to raise the chances of the club producing their own players in the years to come.

Ajdarevic was hailed as a special signing and comparisons were drawn with former Red Paddy Berger as the two shared a love of thunderous left-footed goals and long hair.

Ajdarevic shone during his first season in the under-18s at Liverpool and was tipped to join the reserve side soon after, but somehow his progress became stagnated amid rumours of lack of application.

The Swedish midfielder showed flashes of ability at times but his lack of pace exposed him more often than not once he was playing with similar-aged boys, and he was let go to Leicester City on loan before joining them permanently in 2009.

A one-match loan spell to Hereford followed before he was dropped by the lower league side a year later.

The once-highly praised creative midfielder then returned to his homeland, turning out for Orebro and Norrkoping having made just six league appearances in England in three years.

Photo courtesy of espn.com.