Identifying young footballers who are destined for the very top of the game is no easy task. For every Kylian Mbappé, whose talent was obvious to anyone who ever saw him play, there are thousands of starlets who have a realistic shot at a career in the professional game but fail to make the grade. There are so many factors involved in player development that it’s impossible to be predict accurately who will be a star and who will not.
Look back to the Brendan Rodgers era at Liverpool, for instance. The Reds had Raheem Sterling and Jordon Ibe at that time, with both tipped for the top, yet the former has clearly had the much greater career.
And there remains no guarantee that the young players the club have identified in recent times are set to play a significant role for Liverpool in years to come either. However, there is evidence from the Championship that the Reds have at least been on the right lines with their young players in the last few years under the guidance of Michael Edwards. Set to be replaced by Julian Ward in the summer, his hit rate has been superb.
The EFL have announced the nominees for their annual Player of The Year awards, and there is a strong Liverpool flavour to the men in line for recognition in the Championship.
With 38 goals and counting, it would be a major surprise if Fulham’s Aleksandar Mitrovi? is not crowned as the best player in the second tier for 2021/22. But if he is not, then someone with a Liverpool connection will receive the honour. Mitrovic’s teammate Harry Wilson, sold by the Reds to Fulham last summer, has been nominated after a fine campaign which has seen him score 10 league goals and top the Championship assists table with 14 (at present).
The other player up for the award is Dominic Solanke, who made 27 appearances for Liverpool in 2017/18, scored once, and was sold for a fee said to be around £19million. The 24-year-old provides a good example of how luck affects any player’s career, but especially one at a big club, as every clear-cut chance he had in the league with the Reds was either saved or hit the woodwork. A pessimist would say this showed poor finishing while an optimist would say he was small margins away from scoring several goals.
Having initially struggled at Bournemouth, Solanke has scored 25 goals in all competitions this season to put the Cherries firmly in the promotion picture. Whether he proves himself in the Premier League or not, Liverpool’s talent identification process was on the right track when they signed him.
Kopites are far more likely to hold a passing curiosity in who wins the Championship’s first ever young player award (with the EFL having had one award across their three divisions in the past). Where Fulham had two nominees for the main award, here it’s Nottingham Forest with a pair, as Brennan Johnson and Djed Spence are in the running for the prize.
Making up the nominated trio and where the interest of Liverpool supporters lies is Fabio Carvalho, the 19-year-old Fulham midfielder who looks set to move to Anfield when his current contract expires this summer. That he has a relatively modest tally of seven goals and the same number of assists yet has still been deemed one of the top three players in the division speaks volumes for the silky skills he possesses. Amid two hits for Edwards, this could be the first transfer coup on which Ward has taken the lead.
It was recently revealed Carvalho has completed 28 carries which led to a shot or a key pass, a tally which would put him among the top 20 Premier League players for this attribute if he were able to repeat it in the top flight. The young man is fleet of foot, destined for greatness and the latest in the long line of talented youngsters who shows that Liverpool have got their eye firmly in when it comes to identifying stars of the future. As long as Ward can continue this transfer trend, the future looks bright at Anfield.
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