[article]Liverpool academy director Alex Inglethorpe has compared Curtis Jones to first-team stars Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana, saying the youngster can deliver in similar areas of the field.
Jones, who plays most of his football for the Reds‘ Under-23 side, was given his first senior appearance of the season in the 2-0 win over MK Dons in the EFL Cup last month.
Aside from that, the 18-year-old has scored four goals and assisted three others in nine appearances so far this term and, speaking to The Athletic, Inglethorpe said Jones has shown qualities similar to Mane and Lallana in his career so far.
“Curtis was excellent in possession and looked a real threat,” the academy chief said. “He has been outstanding in the Under-23s games so far this season and having that run of games has helped him. He’s got bigger, stronger and gained more experience.
“I think Curtis can play in two positions – left of the front three and in midfield, too. He’s possibly more Adam Lallana than Sadio Mane in terms of his approach and capabilities.”
Inglethorpe also labelled 16-year-old Harvey Elliott a “real threat”, while talking about Caoimhin Kelleher and Rhian Brewster, he said: “Caoimhin made some good saves at key times and showed real calmness with his feet. It’s just good to see Rhian back after so long out injured.
“It will probably take him a bit of time to find his rhythm. When you haven’t played for that length of time it can sometimes take a bit out of you so we need to be patient.”[/article]
[article]Alex Inglethorpe, Liverpool’s Academy director, has opened up on the controversial departure of striker Bobby Duncan to Fiorentina earlier this year.
The teenager sealed a £1.8m move to the Italian outfit last month, after agent Salif Rubie’s desperate attempts to secure a move from Anfield paid off, having accused the club’s sporting director Michael Edwards of “mentally bullying” the young star.
The strongly-worded statement quite rightly angered the Liverpool faithful, with Jamie Carragher among those to have their say about the way Rubie tried to engineer a way out of Liverpool for his client.
Liverpool strongly denied the accusations made by Rubie, with the club otherwise choosing to keep a diplomatic silence over the 18-year-old as his transfer to Fiorentina was eventually allowed to go through.
However, Inglethorpe has now broken ranks and opened up on Duncan’s move to Florence.
“What I’d say about Bobby is that we wish him well,” Inglethorpe told The Athletic.
“Look, not every player is necessarily going to want to wait and develop under us and we have to respect that.
“To break into elite football is going to be difficult, wherever you are. You need psychological stamina. You need to be able to put the hard yards in over a consistent period and accept the setbacks that come your way.
“Like most things in life, that creates a resilience that will help you in the future.”
Duncan is yet to feature in the Fiorentina first team, but Inglethorpe used Mohamed Salah’s experience at Chelsea as an example to any youngster playing abroad.
“I’m sure the time Mo Salah spent at Chelsea gave him a layer of that resilience. When you develop that skill of finding a way in life then you take it with you and it’s very useful.
“There are 11 shining examples of that playing at Anfield every week. They all at some point had a period in their career where they had to overcome a problem or prove doubters wrong.
“They worked hard, they didn’t quit.”
[/article]
Jones, who plays most of his football for the Reds‘ Under-23 side, was given his first senior appearance of the season in the 2-0 win over MK Dons in the EFL Cup last month.
Aside from that, the 18-year-old has scored four goals and assisted three others in nine appearances so far this term and, speaking to The Athletic, Inglethorpe said Jones has shown qualities similar to Mane and Lallana in his career so far.
“Curtis was excellent in possession and looked a real threat,” the academy chief said. “He has been outstanding in the Under-23s games so far this season and having that run of games has helped him. He’s got bigger, stronger and gained more experience.
“I think Curtis can play in two positions – left of the front three and in midfield, too. He’s possibly more Adam Lallana than Sadio Mane in terms of his approach and capabilities.”
Inglethorpe also labelled 16-year-old Harvey Elliott a “real threat”, while talking about Caoimhin Kelleher and Rhian Brewster, he said: “Caoimhin made some good saves at key times and showed real calmness with his feet. It’s just good to see Rhian back after so long out injured.
“It will probably take him a bit of time to find his rhythm. When you haven’t played for that length of time it can sometimes take a bit out of you so we need to be patient.”[/article]
[article]Alex Inglethorpe, Liverpool’s Academy director, has opened up on the controversial departure of striker Bobby Duncan to Fiorentina earlier this year.
The teenager sealed a £1.8m move to the Italian outfit last month, after agent Salif Rubie’s desperate attempts to secure a move from Anfield paid off, having accused the club’s sporting director Michael Edwards of “mentally bullying” the young star.
The strongly-worded statement quite rightly angered the Liverpool faithful, with Jamie Carragher among those to have their say about the way Rubie tried to engineer a way out of Liverpool for his client.
Liverpool strongly denied the accusations made by Rubie, with the club otherwise choosing to keep a diplomatic silence over the 18-year-old as his transfer to Fiorentina was eventually allowed to go through.
However, Inglethorpe has now broken ranks and opened up on Duncan’s move to Florence.
“What I’d say about Bobby is that we wish him well,” Inglethorpe told The Athletic.
“Look, not every player is necessarily going to want to wait and develop under us and we have to respect that.
“To break into elite football is going to be difficult, wherever you are. You need psychological stamina. You need to be able to put the hard yards in over a consistent period and accept the setbacks that come your way.
“Like most things in life, that creates a resilience that will help you in the future.”
Duncan is yet to feature in the Fiorentina first team, but Inglethorpe used Mohamed Salah’s experience at Chelsea as an example to any youngster playing abroad.
“I’m sure the time Mo Salah spent at Chelsea gave him a layer of that resilience. When you develop that skill of finding a way in life then you take it with you and it’s very useful.
“There are 11 shining examples of that playing at Anfield every week. They all at some point had a period in their career where they had to overcome a problem or prove doubters wrong.
“They worked hard, they didn’t quit.”
[/article]
