Who are Liverpool’s up and coming top youngsters?
Liverpool have fallen behind in recent years, stumbling from the top end of the Premier League and becoming a shadow of their former glorious self. However, with the future to look forward to, they need a strong set of young players to give them any chance of becoming their once victorious state of being the best in Europe again.
When you speak of young talent, Liverpool are not normally the first team that spring to mind. Arsenal are notorious for nurturing youngsters, with Arsene Wenger currently fielding a starting eleven which has a huge majority of young prodigies that he has guided. Sir Alex Ferguson created one of the best squads in world history during the 1990’s, with the likes of Paul Scholes, David Beckham and Ryan Giggs all coming through the youth system. Liverpool however, have never been a popular name for bringing up young stars, but they certainly have the potential to form some fantastic players.
David N’Gog joined from Paris-Saint Germain in 2008 and was at first seen as only a fringe player and after a few poor performances, did not become a very popular figure at Anfield. He has currently scored eight goals in 32 appearances and is slowly showing glimmers of being a top future player, having scored some crucial goals this season. He has received much acclaim from other Premier League managers (including Sam Allardyce) and is currently fighting for a place in the France squad after turning down an approach from Cameroon. He has certainly got all the attributes to be a top future striker for Liverpool and is certainly one of their young stars.
The strike force is not the only area to see such young talent forming. Emiliano Insua is fast becoming a top left back, with an excellent ability of flanking down the wings as well as being a top tackler. He made his debut for Argentina this season in a 2-1 victory over Peru and has really taken to his role at Anfield. He is only 21 years old and under the guidance of top defenders like Jamie Carragher, he certainly has the potential to form into one of the best defenders around. He has a slight tendency to be too attacking and he has a lot to learn in terms of defending, but this will come with experience and he could be a prized asset to a future Liverpool squad.
Also at the back, there is Martin Kelly, who at the age of 20, is a promising English starlet who has the potential to be a top defender for both club and country. What is particularly promising about Kelly is the fact that he is English, with the England team in short supply of good future stars, Kelly certainly has the potential to be a top right back. The former Huddersfield man is an expert down the right flank, both attacking and defensively, being fast-paced for a six foot three inch player. He has featured for the England under 19’s, 20’s and 21’s side and will hopefully break into the first team. Under the guidance of Glen Johnson, he has the potential to be a top defender for Liverpool.
Something which has been touched upon briefly on each of these players, is the fact that they all have people to look up to. N’Gog had the likes of Fernando Torres before his expensive departure to Chelsea, but the remaining youngsters all have model professionals (in terms of football) like Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher to look up to, who are arguably some of the top players in the world.
Liverpool have the potential and the resources to nurture these young stars, as well as many others such as Jonjo Shelvey, , Toni Silva and Daniel Ayala. In terms of a future great squad to take Liverpool back to their glory days, they certainly have the current potential and judging by recent policies, they are not going to stop any time soon in finding new and upcoming talent.
