Jurgen Klopp left behind an enviable era of academy expertise at Liverpool, however the place will these excellent children match into Arne Slot‘s system?
‘For those who’re ok, you’re sufficiently old’ was the mantra for Klopp’s Liverpool.
A era of expertise broke into the primary workforce in 2023/24, together with a dramatic Carabao Cup last win that ended with six academy gamers on the pitch.
An Academy filled with character ?? pic.twitter.com/Hfd8a7hyxs
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) February 25, 2024
Now Slot is the person to impress. Having given 12,334 minutes to academy expertise at Feyenoord within the league-winning 2022/23 season, he’s definitely open to working with younger blood.
So how may every of those younger stars match into Slot’s Liverpool?
• READ FIRST: Arne Slot ways: Feyenoord system and the way Liverpool FC may arrange
Harvey Elliott
Age: 21
LFC appearances: 119
We’ll begin with a simple one.
Elliott has totally damaged by way of now, enjoying a significant function in Liverpool’s unlikely title problem of 2023/24.
The boyhood Liverpool fan can play as a No. 8, a No. 10 or a proper winger in Slot’s system, and has proven actual high quality each in his performances and his finish product – notching 11 assists in all competitions within the season simply gone.
I solely embrace him as a reminder that, extremely, he’s nonetheless solely 21.
Position beneath Slot? The brand new head coach will love his versatility, similar to Klopp.
Jarell Quansah
Age: 21
LFC appearances: 33
Composure on the ball (mistake at Outdated Trafford apart) and dominance in defensive duels noticed Quansah leap from a League One mortgage to 33 senior appearances.
By the top of the marketing campaign he’d overtaken Ibrahima Konate as the popular companion to Virgil van Dijk.
It’s that capacity to play out that may enchantment most to Slot.
The brand new gaffer is joyful to play forwards shortly as soon as the area is on the market, however the buildup unit will see plenty of the ball at first – shifting it round to encourage stress and create area contained in the opponent’s block.
The centre-backs are additionally requested to play progressive passes forwards when the chance arises.
For all his undoubted skills, Konate shouldn’t be famend for this. Quansah could preserve his place within the beginning lineup because of this.
Position beneath Slot? Battling to remain Van Dijk’s first-choice companion.
Conor Bradley
Age: 20
LFC appearances: 28
Bradley nicely and actually arrived in 2023/24.
The appropriate-back went from Participant of the 12 months at Bolton to scoring his first Anfield objective and beginning a Wembley cup last (each towards Chelsea, funnily sufficient).
Given his likelihood when Trent Alexander-Arnold went out injured, the Northern Irishman was so good that the workforce’s system pivoted round him.
Out went the inverted right-back and in got here the lung-busting, overlapping Bradley to press excessive up the pitch and punctuate strikes within the last third.
This isn’t how Slot sometimes makes use of his full-backs. He depends on width in assault from his wingers, with full-backs extra more likely to keep deeper and extra central.
It is because, if the ball is turned over, the full-backs are nearer to their very own objective and thus extra capable of monitor again and defend the area behind them – one thing Liverpool have struggled with.
Slot might be pragmatic in pursuit of success, and he has a extremely gifted particular person to work with in Bradley.
However whether or not the system or the participant can bend to go well with the opposite is a query to reply in pre-season.
Position beneath Slot? Unclear, however he has proven he can emulate Alexander-Arnold’s function.
James McConnell
Age: 19
LFC appearances: 9
Each younger participant has years of teaching in Liverpool’s aggressive out-of-possession strategy all through the age teams.
However when Liverpool wanted to mould an academy participant right into a defensive midfielder for the primary workforce in 2023/24, McConnell’s technical safety meant he received the decision.
Taking the ball beneath stress in the course of the excessive stakes of the Carabao Cup last showcased a composure and maturity past the 19-year-old’s tender years, and he later laid on a superb help within the FA Cup.
Hull Metropolis have already expressed an curiosity in him because of this.
Slot, in the meantime, is a serial player-improver. It’s the explanation he’s had instant success at each membership he’s managed, it’s how he succeeds on a funds, and it’s what FSG have employed him to do at Liverpool.
If he’s meant to look to the academy as a lot because the switch market, McConnell can be an ideal place to begin.
Position beneath Slot? If he stays, an possibility at No. 6.
Bobby Clark
Age: 19
LFC appearances: 14
Clark not often performs the spectacular. He receives the ball nicely, he releases the ball on the proper time, and he counter-presses successfully.
Essentially the most eye-catching high quality he has demonstrated in 14 appearances is to not catch the attention.
He merely appears to be like like he belongs within the engine room of an elite workforce, regardless of being simply 19 years of age.
Slot asks his midfielders to point out for the ball and rotate fluidly to be able to play quick, fast passes that disrupt the opposition’s defensive form.
Clark’s in-possession recreation is ideal for this.
The No. 8s for Slot are additionally purported to contribute objectives and assists larger up the pitch, in order that’s an space for Clark to enhance if he’s to kick on.
Position beneath Slot? The proper candidate as one of many No. 8s.
Jayden Danns
Age: 18
LFC appearances: 5
Some of the sought-after profiles in trendy soccer is the ‘nine-and-a-half’. A striker who can hyperlink play like Roberto Firmino but additionally rating objectives like Erling Haaland.
Danns’ capacity to each hyperlink play and rating helped him break into the primary workforce and earned comparisons with Harry Kane.
Earlier than we get too excited, although, Danns is much from the extent of a Harry Kane simply but.
He’s scored two senior Liverpool objectives, each towards Championship opposition, and continues to be constructing the bodily capability to compete on the elite degree.
There’s a motive Klopp left him on the bench when in search of a objective at Goodison Park in April.
By way of profile, Danns is a serious asset for Slot to inherit. Subsequent season is probably going too quickly to count on a serious contribution at Anfield – however then, many would have had mentioned the identical final summer season.
Position beneath Slot? Possibilities could also be slim, however extra expertise to come back up entrance.
Stefan Bajcetic
Age: 19
LFC appearances: 22
His 2022/23 breakout marketing campaign was so good {that a} full absence in 2023/24 hasn’t quietened the discuss round Bajcetic.
The key query has been round his place.
Breaking in as a No. 6, usurping the ageing Fabinho, Bajcetic paired his technical safety with infinite working and crunching tackles.
However his press-resistance and dribbling capacity, in addition to an underrated cool in entrance of objective, counsel his finest place is because the No. 8.
Sadly for him, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch all have comparable attacking upsides.
Bajcetic’s long-limbed fashion of tackling and his robustness in bodily duels make him finest suited to a deeper function – at the least within the quick time period.
Position beneath Slot? Extra likelihood within the No. 6 function for now.
