There is a framed photo on the walls of Liverpool's training base in Kirkby, deliberately placed where many youth stars frequent. The photo, taken just before the turn of the millennium, serves as the ultimate inspiration for the stars of tomorrow.
In the blink of an eye, seven homegrown players peered through the camera: Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, David Thompson, Dominic Matteo, Jamie Carragher and, then a fresh-faced teenager, Steven Gerrard.
Last year, Liverpool's media team sensed an opportunity to create a similar image with new key players. After the Reds won the Carabao Cup with a youthful team at Wembley, eleven of the latest academy success stories posed with the final trophy of the Jurgen Klopp era.
Trent Alexander-Arnold in a knee brace – he did not play that day – is the most famous, but also present were Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley, Jayden Danns, Stefan Bajcetic and Trey Nyoni, to name just five. Who knows how iconic that image will one day be.
Mail Sport dubbed them the 'Kindergarten Kop', while others called them 'Klopp's Kids'. It may not have had the global significance of Klopp's sixth European Cup crown or a first Premier League title, but that trophy meant just as much to many within the club.
The Reds have since added another star to their academy after raiding Chelsea for exciting winger Rio Ngumoha. Arne Slot named the 16-year-old into his starting XI for his first-team debut in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Accrington Stanley on Saturday, while Danns came off the bench to score his third FA Cup goal for the club, and Nyoni have more minutes to his name. Liverpool's eye for young talent only seems to be improving.
For many academy coaches, this means decades of hard work. And eleven months on from that memorable day at Wembley, Liverpool are plotting how to create another dream team of youth stars.
“High performance is not about reaching your peak once, but about maintaining a level of excellence over a long period of time,” Liverpool academy director Alex Inglethorpe told the High Performance Podcast last year.
That quote is a perfect illustration of the Reds talent factory. Celebrate the successes, toast the 42 youth stars who made their first-team debuts under Klopp… but then move on to the next generation. One peak reached, now another peak at scale.
Liverpool has been forced to change its youth academy policy in recent years, another long-term symptom of Britain's departure from the European Union. In the last two years alone they have poached five talented youngsters from other Premier League academies.
What impact will Brexit have on this? Long story short, the New Year's Day 2021 Immigration Act ended the automatic right of EU nationals to work in Britain. Instead, the country now has a points-based immigration system. It meant that it became difficult to sign young people from abroad.
The last importer was Bajcetic, who signed a few hours before the new rules came into effect. Since his ÂŁ224,000 move on New Year's Eve 2020, the Spaniard has broken into the first team and excelled in 2022-23, appearing in eight consecutive Premier League games.
He missed most of last season due to a long-term injury and is now on loan at Red Bull Salzburg. “I hope it will be an important year for him, because he is a very talented player and I think he can become a very important player for us,” Arne Slot said about the 20-year-old Bajcetic earlier this season.
But since that Bajcetic deal, Liverpool have traded closer to home. You may not have known Ngumoha or Nyoni before today, nor Alvin Ayman, Amara Nallo or Owen Harvey, but every youth football expert in England does.
Although first-team transactions were limited, these signings were the talk of the academy communities. “They are not here to stockpile talent, they are interested in providing a pathway,” said a representative of the Secret Scout, a site with deep expertise in football.
Led by senior academy recruitment head Matt Newberry, who also takes part in first-team recruitment meetings, Liverpool have invested heavily in spotting local talent in England, as well as Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Bradley was lured from County Tyrone boyhood club Dungannon Swifts in his mid-teens after more than a year under surveillance, while Ben Doak was poached from Celtic's academy in 2022 for around ÂŁ600,000.
The most exciting signing is Ngumoha, who left Chelsea in a fury upon his departure in August. Ngumoha turned down a better money package at the Stamford Bridge club as he saw a better trajectory on Merseyside. Once again, that Carabao Cup victory had a lasting legacy.
Mail Sport understands Liverpool south-based scout Chris Wilkins was crucial in this deal, from the moment he identified him as someone for the future and also convinced him to make the move. Ngumoha's older brother James was heavily involved, as was his long-term ally Fergal Hale-Brown.
“I first saw Rio when he was about 12,” adds the Secret Scout representative, who has been coaching youth for almost 20 years. 'He was just a fantastic dribbler and incredible one-on-one… so difficult to get the ball off him even with two players trying.
“He has a close-knit family and in terms of attitude and mentality, there is no chance for him to go astray or think he is bigger than he is. They buy a lot with the idea that he can join the first team and fulfill a certain role.
“Sometimes when players move up to adult football they can't replicate what they did in the youth teams, but his decision-making has improved and he hasn't lost weight. He knows that he can no longer just run through the entire team, knows when to pass and when to dribble.'
Secret Scout points out three examples of South American stars. Later this year, Estevao Willian will join Chelsea from Palmeiras for ÂŁ28 million, while Kendry Paez will move from Independiente del Valle in Ecuador for ÂŁ17.2 million. These are confirmed deals.
He added: “He is one of the best I have seen in my coaching journey. Look at Estevao, Kendry Paez and Endrick (signed from Palmeiras to Real Madrid)… if Rio had been in Brazil he would have already made his first-team debut and, funnily enough, Chelsea might have been able to buy him for £50m!'
Not bad considering Liverpool are only paying a six-figure fee for Ngumoha, who only wears 'Rio' on the back of his shirt. Compensation has yet to be agreed between the clubs to cover development costs and a tribunal is likely to be needed to determine the final amount.
Chelsea legend John Terry wrote on his Instagram in September: 'This boy is and remains a top player.' High praise and, it has to be said, a comment that raises a grin – for all the players Chelsea have signed in the last 12 months, their best young player may have slipped through the cracks.
Ngumoha trained with the Reds' first team shortly after signing and had sessions with new coach Aaron Briggs, the 'link man' between the academy and the first team. He was carefully guided in his first few months at Anfield before making his debut on Saturday.
Nyoni, the 17-year-old who joined from Leicester last summer amid stiff competition from other big clubs, has also attracted attention. The midfielder excelled during Liverpool's pre-season tour and was top scorer in a tournament for England Under 18s in September.
Harvey Elliott, who has been there and done that when it comes to breaking into the first team after a move from a fellow English club, told Mail Sport in Philadelphia in August: 'Trey has everything in him. He is fearless for such a young age. I am sure his time will come.”
Signing youngsters from other academies is not exclusive to Liverpool, but this is a clear transfer strategy. Going back a few years, players like Kaide Gordon (from Derby), James McConnell (Sunderland) and Bobby Clark (Newcastle) have all made it to the first team.
They bought Ayman from Wolves in August – the Midlands club only signed him from Bradford a year earlier – and the Egyptian can play in both defense and midfield. Owen also arrived from Wolves, while highly rated defender Nallo was snapped up from West Ham.
It should also be said that this policy does not affect their hyper-local scouting. In the first team, Quansah was plucked from Warrington club Woolston Rovers at the age of five. Quansah's family are fans of Manchester United, but believed more in Liverpool's trajectory.
Tyler Morton, who was unable to leave on loan last summer to join idol Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen, is another local boy who Everton turned down to join the Reds. Don't forget Scousers Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, or Irishman Caoimhin Kelleher who joined at the age of 16.
Of course, for every Gerrard or Alexander-Arnold, there are hundreds of kids who never don a red shirt at Anfield. But Liverpool believe they have a better path than any Big Six Premier League club to turning these starlets into real stars.
Children are kept at home at Kirkby training base by being asked to hand in their phones at the start of the day, a salary cap of ÂŁ50,000 a year and a rule banning them from driving cars with an engine capacity of more than 1, 3 litres. It keeps them from thinking they've “made it.”
Soon the conditions are in place for these children to do exactly that and achieve at the highest level. Federico Chiesa was the only first-team signing in a frustrating window last summer, but look beyond: Liverpool are planning their way to future victories with this long-term vision.
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