Midfielder Leighton Clarkson is yet to make his debut for Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League title challengers Liverpool.
Leighton Clarkson is clearly making quite the impression at Liverpool with first-team coach Pepijn Lijnders telling the club’s official website that the young midfielder is exactly what the European Champions are looking for.
The 17-year-old established himself as a regular for the U18 side last season, helping Barry Lewtas’s side win the FA Youth Cup for the first time in over a decade alongside Bobby Duncan and Paul Glatzel.
Clarkson was rewarded for his stand out performances with the chance to prove himself alongside James Milner, Jordan Henderson and co recently with Lewtas himself confirming that the Blackburn-born play-maker had been training with Klopp’s first-team.
And it seems that Clarkson has done his chances of a senior debut in the months ahead no harm at all.
“Leighton Clarkson sees with his own eyes the constant runs of Sadio and Mo in behind,” Lijnders said. “He has the capacity to play the passes these type of forwards like to receive.
“He is the type of No.6 we really like, the one who can dictate play, but dictate with direction, who can speed up the tempo of the positional play, the one who has always time on the ball.”
With Milner, Henderson, Gini Wijnaldum, Fabinho, Naby Keita and Adam Lallana all fighting for a place in one of Liverpool’s three midfield positions, Clarkson has a long way to go yet.
But with the teenager proving his quality and his winning mentality at U18 level and holding his own when training alongside the first-team, Clarkson’s rise is showing no signs of slowing down.
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