You've heard of the Busby Babes… now meet the Kindergarten Kop. Or Jurgen Klopp’s Kirkby Kids, maybe Xabi Alonso’s Adolescents next season. Whatever alliteration we want to force, the point is that Liverpool’s youth academy is thriving like few others in Europe.
Amid 10 first-team injuries for Wednesday’s 4-1 win over Luton, the substitutes’ bench featured five teenagers and the eight outfielders had an average age of 21, boosted significantly by poor old Andy Robertson, 29, and Kostas Tsimikas, 27, who must have felt like pensioners.
Both of those left backs still have plenty of elite-level football ahead of them but the pair, along with many in the best XI, know there is a cabal of youngsters waiting in reserve to take their spots. Some, like Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah, have already nailed down regular action.
In an FA Cup match last month, Liverpool’s matchday squad was made up of 10 academy graduates. No, it was not a cup tie against a lower-league opposition where rotation was a luxury. It was a trip to Arsenal.
‘Nothing would be possible without these boys,’ said Klopp last month when quizzed on Bradley, Quansah and Co. And he is right, these players aren’t just knocking about to make up the numbers, they are full-fledged members of Liverpool’s fight for a 20th English league title.
Liverpool were forced to include five teenagers on their substitutes bench amid a glut of injuries for the clash against Luton on Wednesday night
Jarell Quansah (left) and Harvey Elliot (middle) shone from the start, while James McConnell (middle left) and Bobby Clark (right) impressed off the bench
Jayden Danns (middle), the 18-year-old son of former Premier League midfielder Neil, was the latest debutant for the first team
So while the likes of Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah may sweep up football’s Oscars in May for playing the role of lead actors in Liverpool’s fight for four trophies this season, this young, ensemble support cast should be highly commended, too.
Jayden Danns, the 18-year-old son of former Premier League midfielder Neil, is the latest debutant for the first team, coming off the bench alongside Bobby Clark and James McConnell on Wednesday from a team-sheet where you can almost smell the park pitches of youth sport.
Of course, many will not remember the trevails of Sunday League football. Danns, for example, joined Liverpool aged eight, while Quansah was first signed by the club from Warrington-based Woolston at just five. Others like Kaide Gordon have been poached from other academies.
The process of finding these uncut gems is much easier said than done. Liverpool have a web of scouts around the shires and abroad who attend youth matches and tournaments to spot the next big thing. For every one success story, there are hundreds who have not quite made it.
As a case study, Liverpool followed Bradley for a number of years before offering him a scholarship in 2019. He was playing for Dungannon United Youth in Northern Ireland and was recommended to them by word of mouth, with two scouts flying over to check him out regularly.
Joe McAree, a legend of Northern Irish youth football, is the man who unearthed Bradley after being persuaded to watch him by a local referee. He recently told Mail Sport: ‘From the first day I met him in a cafe, he looked me in the eye and smiled, it just felt different.
‘For an 11-year-old boy it was just different, the focus he had. He knew what he wanted to be, he knew he wanted to get to Liverpool. This boy can get from box to box like a reindeer. I’m waiting patiently for him to move to midfield and be the next Steven Gerrard. It’s a fairytale.’
Another scout report from a few years back described Quansah as a defender who ‘eats up space’, before commenting on how he towers most on the pitch in youth football, is commanding and comfortable on the ball. Watching him this season, that report would still work.
But Liverpool place a lot of emphasis on personality as well as ability. One source, a scout, says: ‘I’ll be looking at body language more than anything, delving into their background story, family history and character profiling. Human behaviour is complex even at that age.
‘Any top professional can see a good footballer but it’s more about looking at the detail beyond that. But we must acknowledge we are there to improve them as people as well as players. Don’t focus negatively on what they can’t do, change what they can do.’
Chances to succeed in this sport of fine margins if you’re from a football family, and Liverpool’s youngsters seem to have a theme of famous dads. Like Danns and father Neil, Clark’s father is former Newcastle star Lee, while young Lewis Koumas is the son of ex-Wales midfielder Jason.
At a slightly younger age level, Keyrol Figueroa, son of former Wigan and Hull star Maynor who won 181 caps for Honduras, was spotted while playing for FC Dallas in an Under 13s tournament. According to his mother, he scored 90 goals last season in youth football.
Liverpool followed Conor Bradley for a number of years before offering him a scholarship in 2019
Jarell Quansah was described by one scout as a defender who ‘eats up space’, before commenting on how he towers most on the pitch
Summer signings Harvey Owen, Amara Nallo and Trey Nyoni, who was on the bench on Wednesday, were all signed from other Premier League academies. Brexit rules have made overseas trading of youngsters harder so they have started looking closer to home.
Head of academy recruitment Matt Newberry, who also looks after loans after David Woodfine left the club, is key to this drive alongside Alex Inglethorpe. Much emphasis, even from the age of 11 upwards, is placed on data and video scouting.
As Klopp embraced debutant Danns on Wednesday, Luton’s boss Rob Edwards laughed, pointing at the teenage forward and said: ‘I played with your dad!’. A strong upbringing seems to be a consistent thread among all these kids but they are not all nepotism babies.
In Bradley’s case, mother Linda knew nothing of football before she started her unofficial role as the right back’s agent and taxi driver. Linda, plus late dad Joe, helped negotiate his deals - and originally turned down the promise of a scholarship and said their son must earn one first.
Another key part of Liverpool’s young recruitment strategy, of course, is a charm offensive. Simply being Liverpool is enough to tempt many, such as boyhood fans Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones and Bradley.
But in many cases they have had to fend off interest from other academies, such as young midfielder Tyler Morton, now on loan at promotion-chasing Hull City, and Danns, both of whom nearly joined Everton before Liverpool swooped to sign them at the last minute.
Speaking to Mail Sport, Morton explains: ‘I was quite a shy lad off the pitch. But you have to grow a personality even at that age to make it in football. I really grew into myself at Liverpool. I found a real love for footie and used to pretend I was Xabi Alonso in the park with my dad.
‘Half the first team are my lifelong mates! Conor has turned into a real top player. Everyone at the academy knew he would. Jarell as well, absolutely brilliant - I’ve grown up with him and trained with him since I was six or seven. All of us have been mates the whole way through.’
The friendly spirit is echoed in the camp, with several of the young stars meeting up with Morton in London for a trip to Winter Wonderland after Hull played QPR and Liverpool won at Crystal Palace earlier that day, including Harvey Elliott who, beyond belief, is still only 20.
Just because players are out on loan, it doesn’t mean their Liverpool days are numbered - as might be the case at some Premier League clubs who stockpile talent. Quansah earned his corn at Bristol Rovers last season, while Bradley was Bolton’s player of the year.
Academy director Alex Inglethorpe (pictured) has been key to the drive alongside Head of academy recruitment Matt Newberry
Tyler Morton has been impressive for Hull since joining on loan from Liverpool
Luke Chambers, currently on loan at Wigan, has been described as 'a diamond of a boy' by Kilmarnock manager Derek McInnes, who had him on loan for the first half of the season
Liverpool leave players to their own devices when out on loan, telling stars to put full trust in their temporary coaches. But many are given a brief that no matter how many divisions they step down, the loan club is doing them a favour rather than the other way around.
‘I’ve worked with a lot of loan players and none have made a bigger impact than Luke Chambers,’ Kilmarnock boss tells Mail Sport of the left back now on loan at Wigan. ‘What a diamond of a boy he is, Liverpool are lucky to have him.
‘He immersed himself in the cause for us. We get a lot of players coming from England on loan and some of them have an ego, it was never that with Luke, he was so appreciative of the opportunity. He grew up as a man, hosting Come Dine With Me cooking nights with the lads.’
So while the biggest talking point going into this season was the loss of several experienced leaders - 1,776 worth of Premier League appearances in exits - now the talk of the Kop is Klopp’s trust in youth and an academy once again the envy of Europe.