Alexander-Arnold on the Liverpool academy players set to break into first-team

Liverpool’s academy has already produced one star in recent years in Trent Alexander-Arnold and the Anfield favourite has picked out two players who could follow in his footsteps

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Klopp questions why Carabao Cup semi-final is two-legged

Trent Alexander-Arnold has backed Liverpool duo Harvey Elliott and Kaide Gordon to become mainstays of the Reds’ first-team for years to come.

The 23-year-old rose through the Reds ranks in the 2010s and is now an established Anfield star, now turning to see who could follow in his footsteps.

Although both Elliott and Gordon were signed after their 16th birthdays, each starlet has spent a good chunk of time in the club’s academy with a view to breaking through as Liverpool players.

Alexander-Arnold’s praise for the pair came in an interview with Premier League Uncut, as the England defender was asked who will be the Reds’ highest-rated players in five years’ time.

Join the debate! Who will be Liverpool’s best player in five years’ time? Give us your predictions here.

“Of who’s in and around the first team now, I would say Harvey,” Alexander-Arnold stated.

“But if it’s someone who’s academy-based, then I’d say Kaide. Both have got massive, massive bags of potential.”

Elliott, 18, spent last season on loan at Blackburn Rovers, racking up seven goals and 11 assists, while also boasting some incredible underlying statistics.

The England youth international returned at Anfield this summer hoping to stake a claim under Jurgen Klopp and after three Premier League starts, it looked like he had.

But a horrific ankle injury sustained at the start of September saw him ruled out for the rest of 2021, having looked electric in the Liverpool midfield.

Gordon, meanwhile, was snapped up by the Reds earlier this year from local club Derby County, with a £1million compensation fee agreed which could rise to £3m with add-ons.

The 17-year-old made his debut in the League Cup against Norwich City in September, playing 90 minutes as Liverpool claimed a 3-0 win.

Post-match, Klopp heaped praised on Gordon by saying: “He’s good. A lot of things to improve, a lot of things to settle, a lot of things to learn but there’s a lot of things already there.

“We are really happy to have him around and we will treat him carefully, let me say it like this.

The Reds boss added: “The first thing Kaide said to me after the game, when I wanted to say ‘congratulations’, he said to me, ‘Thank you!’ I said, ‘Nothing to thank me for, you deserved it.’”

Have your say! Should Gordon be given a chance over the festive period? Let us know your thoughts below.

Klopp’s No.2, Pep Ljinders, also rates the forward highly and said ahead of that cup clash: “He has this natural ability to be between the goal posts to score, even when a cross comes from the opposite side and not many have that.

“A lot of wingers have dribbling skills, but not that desire to shoot, to come in the box, to score. So he is a typical Liverpool winger in my opinion because he has goals, he has speed.”

Ljinders went on: “We put an identity in place the moment Jurgen came, and so that is seven years of the same ideas, the same pathways, the same trust in young players.

“That is the only way you can bring young talent into a first team (at this level).”