Jurgen Klopp left behind an enviable technology of academy expertise at Liverpool, however the place will these excellent kids match into Arne Slot‘s system?
‘In case you’re adequate, you’re sufficiently old’ was the mantra for Klopp’s Liverpool.
A technology of expertise broke into the primary group in 2023/24, together with a dramatic Carabao Cup remaining win that ended with six academy gamers on the pitch.
An Academy stuffed 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 would possibly every of those younger stars match into Slot’s Liverpool?
• READ FIRST: Arne Slot techniques: 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 now, taking part in 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.
Function below 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Composure on the ball (mistake at Outdated Trafford apart) and dominance in defensive duels noticed Quansah leap from a League One mortgage to 33 senior appearances.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 tip of the marketing campaign he’d overtaken Ibrahima Konate as the popular associate to Virgil van Dijk.
It’s that capacity to play out that may enchantment most to Slot.
The brand new gaffer is completely satisfied to play forwards rapidly as soon as the area is out there, however the buildup unit will see a variety of the ball at first – transferring 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 just isn’t famend for this. Quansah could maintain his place within the beginning lineup consequently.
Function below Slot? Battling to remain Van Dijk’s first-choice associate.
Conor Bradley
Age: 20
LFC appearances: 28
Bradley properly and really arrived in 2023/24.
The appropriate-back went from Participant of the Yr at Bolton to scoring his first Anfield purpose and beginning a Wembley cup remaining (each towards Chelsea, funnily sufficient).
Given his probability when Trent Alexander-Arnold went out injured, the Northern Irishman was so good that the group’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 remaining 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 prone to keep deeper and extra central.
It’s because, if the ball is turned over, the full-backs are nearer to their very own purpose and thus extra capable of monitor again and defend the area behind them – one thing Liverpool have struggled with.
Slot will be pragmatic in pursuit of success, and he has a extremely proficient particular person to work with in Bradley.
However whether or not the system or the participant can bend to swimsuit the opposite is a query to reply in pre-season.
Function below 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 group in 2023/24, McConnell’s technical safety meant he obtained the decision.
Taking the ball below stress in the course of the excessive stakes of the Carabao Cup remaining 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 consequently.
Slot, in the meantime, is a serial player-improver. It’s the rationale he’s had fast success at each membership he’s managed, it’s how he succeeds on a finances, 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 could be an awesome place to begin.
Function below Slot? If he stays, an choice at No. 6.
Bobby Clark
Age: 19
LFC appearances: 14
Clark hardly ever performs the spectacular. He receives the ball properly, he releases the ball on the proper time, and he counter-presses successfully.
Probably the most eye-catching high quality he has demonstrated in 14 appearances is to not catch the attention.
He merely seems to be like he belongs within the engine room of an elite group, regardless of being simply 19 years of age.
Slot asks his midfielders to point out for the ball and rotate fluidly with the intention 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 imagined to contribute targets and assists larger up the pitch, in order that’s an space for Clark to enhance if he’s to kick on.
Function below Slot? The right candidate as one of many No. 8s.
Jayden Danns
Age: 18
LFC appearances: 5
Probably the most sought-after profiles in fashionable soccer is the ‘nine-and-a-half’. A striker who can hyperlink play like Roberto Firmino but additionally rating targets like Erling Haaland.
Danns’ capacity to each hyperlink play and rating helped him break into the primary group 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 targets, each towards Championship opposition, and continues to be constructing the bodily capability to compete on the elite degree.
There’s a cause Klopp left him on the bench when searching for a purpose at Goodison Park in April.
By way of profile, Danns is a significant asset for Slot to inherit. Subsequent season is probably going too quickly to count on a significant contribution at Anfield – however then, many would have had stated the identical final summer time.
Function below Slot? Probabilities could also be slim, however extra expertise to return 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 foremost query has been round his place.
Breaking in as a No. 6, usurping the ageing Fabinho, Bajcetic paired his technical safety with countless working and crunching tackles.
However his press-resistance and dribbling capacity, in addition to an underrated cool in entrance of purpose, 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 – no less than within the quick time period.
Function below Slot? Extra probability within the No. 6 function for now.
