6 months ago
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Photo by Nick Taylor/Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
The 17-year old will be looking to be the Reds’ next breakthrough prospect.
For Liverpool, perennially among the five to seven richest clubs in the world, yet lacking the financial muscle to simply bribe their way out of financial regulation breaches, developing their own young players and moving them up through the ranks to the first team has not only been part of the theoretical club model, but also been put into practice.
This year alone, the likes of Jarell Quansah, Conor Bradley, Bobby Clark, Jayden Danns, James McConnell and Ben Doak have featured in at least five games each, making telling contributions to the team’s efforts, while another half dozen teenagers have made their debuts over the course of the season.
It is not a model the club is expected to deviate from, even as they restructure the backroom staff from the CEO down and being exploring multi-club ownership over the course of the summer, and thus today’s news that Keyrol Figueroa has signed his first professional deal with the club is both encouraging and unsurprising.
Having joined the club at 14, the son of former Wigan legend Maynor Figueroa has lit up the scoring charts at the youth level, and has since featured for the U18s and U19s (in the UEFA Youth league), as well as establishing himself in the U17 set-up for the United States National Team, racking up goals for the side in last year’s CONCACAF U17 Championship.
A dynamic, tricky forward, the 17-year old makes his hay running the channels and partaking in slick one-touch play around the box, favouring backheels and flicks to bamboozle defenders and displaying a knack for arriving in space at the right time to tap home big chances. Whether his game will translate to the next level remains to be seen, of course, but with two and a half years left of his teens, there’s no call to rush the youngster either.
