THERE are back slaps all over the place at Kirkby right now, as Liverpool’s Academy begins to bear the kind of fruit the club has longed for many a year.
With Raheem Sterling making his senior England debut last night, and Suso turning out for Spain’s Under-21 side the previous evening, recognition for the work of Rodolfo Borrell, Frank McParland and the youth team coaching staff has been plentiful.
Borrell’s contribution, in particular, has been huge. As head coach of the Reds U21 side, and before that the U18s, he has personally overseen the development of these players. Since his 2009 arrival at Kirkby, no fewer than 16 Academy players have made debut at first-team level.
The Spaniard says: “I must say here that sometimes when I hear the news or the media talking about this, it is like they are looking for one person who has developed these players.
“My job is to develop players, to make them as ready as possible to go to Melwood.
“But also, it is very important you have a manager who believes in the youngsters. You can develop what you want, but if the first-team coach does not believe in them, then it is impossible.
“Right now, because of the circumstances where we do not have a big squad in the first team, they are getting in there and they are not disappointing anybody. We have three regular players now who have come from the Academy, and many more who have made their debut. This is very important.
“But the achievement of this does not belong to one person. It belongs to many people, and people who work behind the scenes doing what I call ‘invisible training’ – that means they are looking after the players in their extra football matters.
Everybody at the Academy deserves praise, and so does the manager for his faith in the young players.”
