The appointment of Damien Comolli as director of football strategy has been met with great optimism by Liverpool fans, particularly as it is rumoured to be resulting in Roy Hodgson having little input in transfer activity. And the less say Hodgson has with regards to the transfer market, many would say the better.
Comolli is reported to have sent his scouting troops scouring the world looking for the talent that can ensure a bright and successful future for Liverpool Football Club. Rumours coming from within the club suggest it is more likely that the squad will be invested in during the summer, but the Kop haven’t had much to cheer about recently, and may well grow impatient with a lack of movement over the January transfer window. However, Comolli and Hodgson don’t have to look too far for something to give the fans a much needed lift.
Jonjo Shelvey has obviously made an impressive start to his Liverpool career, with more appearances than many fans, and probably himself, would have expected. With every appearance Shelvey makes the air of optimism surrounding this eighteen year old grows, and it certainly look like it won’t be long until he is holding down a regular first team spot.
Another of the more senior youth players that could well be in with a shout of first team football in the near future is Daniel Ayala. Currently on loan with Hull, Ayala has been playing consistently impressive football in the rough and tumble of the Championship, and even got himself on the score sheet recently. Rafael Benitez brought Ayala to Liverpool, and expressed the high hopes he has of him to Liverpool journalist Paul Tomkins, before he left for Milan. Though Benitez’s belief in players won’t necessarily fill every red with optimism (Rafa’s faith in Lucas, for instance, was often disregarded as blind, but Lucas is now showing signs of the player Rafa always insisted he was) it is certainly encouraging.
The Spanish connection now brings me on the last two young lads that are currently creating the most optimism. Daniel Pacecho, the young Spaniard who was top scorer in this summers Under 19 European Championship, made great strides in the first team in Rafael Benitez’s last season, but hasn’t had much of a look in this season. It is rumoured he overslept and consequently missed a reserve game, and has since been overlooked by Roy Hodgson. Pacecho was signed by Liverpool from Barcelona three years ago in a similar vein in which Cesc Fabregas went to Arsenal, and very clearly has the potential to be part of the next generation of technically gifted footballers Spain seem destined to create. If Hodgson allows Pacecho to leave, as has been suggested in the press, this little magician may well come back to haunt Liverpool and it could be effectively be the straw that breaks the camel’s back with regards to Liverpool’s employment of Roy Hodgson.
Last but far from least, is seventeen year old Suso, who signed his first professional contract today. Suso is another attacking Spanish player in the same mould as Pacheco, and is greatly impressing everyone that comes across him; at the tender age of sixteen (he only turned seventeen today), with a few minutes under his belt for the first team in a pre-season friendly, he has been dominating reserve team football, with his finest moment coming through a twenty five yard pile driver against Newcastle Reserves. Not since Wayne Rooney came through at Everton have I come across such excitement for a youth player, though admittedly on completely different levels, Suso’s arrival is becoming more and more anticipated with every word mentioned about him.
So, maybe for the time being, Liverpool need only look on their doorstep for the future of the club, whilst all we can do is hope they achieve their promise. We wait with baited breath.
***NOTE: Due to an admin error, this article was only partially published yesterday. We apologise for any confusion this may have caused.***
Thanks to Alex from http://someteamupnorth.blogspot.com/ for this post.
