Jurgen Klopp believes that Mateusz Musiałowski is the latest Liverpool youngster ready to make the first-team step up.
It has been an incredible season for academy products who have made the step into the senior set-up. Jarell Quansah and Conor Bradley are now first-team regulars while Bobby Clark scored his first goal for the club in the 6-1 routing of Sparta Prague as Liverpool cruised into the Europa League quarter-finals. Jayden Danns and Lewis Koumas, both 18, scored in a 3-0 win over Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round while James McConnell made his ninth appearance against Sparta.
It was Musialowski’s turn to make his maiden appearance for Liverpool off the bench against Sparta when replacing Clark in the 73rd minute. The 20-year-old has been in fine form for the under-21s this season, recording six goals and two assists in 13 games. But the Poland youth international has had to be patient when he comes to first-team chances.
However, his opportunity finally arrived in the win over Sparta and Klopp believes it was much deserved. The Liverpool manager told TNT Sport: “I don’t care about statistics [of debuts handed out], Mateusz deserved it, you have to say it. He has trained a few weeks with us now, in and out, players develop differently. So he is an exceptional talent but we play football in a specific way. He gets it more and more and now I really think he is ready. That’s why he got the minutes, he waited long enough and another great kid.”
