'Great boys': Liverpool coach raves about three 'fantastic Reds youngsters coming through this season
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Liverpool are producing more exciting young players than ever before.
The Reds have brought some of the best players in the club’s history through their own academy and have recently seen a boom in quality yet again.
The likes of Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah becoming fixtures in the first-team Liverpool squad has given hope to every youngster on the Reds’ books that they too can make the grade.
There are obviously plenty of top players to get out of the way to make that happen, but a pathway to the senior team exists at Liverpool that simply isn’t there are other big clubs.
That clear route to Arne Slot’s squad is what prompted Rio Ngumoha to swap Chelsea for the Liverpool academy over the summer.
And according to U18s coach Marc Bridge-Wilkinson, Ngumoha is one of three players who have been ‘fantastic’ to have around this season.
Young Liverpool trio hailed
Ngumoha was called up to first-team training by Slot ahead of Liverpool’s game against Aston Villa last Saturday.
It really seems to be a matter of when, not if the 16-year-old will make his debut for the Reds.
One youngster who has already been there and done that is Trey Nyoni. The 17-year-old has two senior appearances to his name, including a 26-minute Carabao Cup showing against Brighton this season.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, then, Ngumoha and Nyoni are two of three players Bridge-Wilkinson picked out for praise after the U18s beat Stoke City 2-0 over the weekend. The other being centre-back Carter Pinnington.
READ MORE: The six most exciting young players coming through the Liverpool academy
“It was fantastic [to have all three playing],” the coach told liverpoolfc.com. “First and foremost, they are all great boys and have great character and attitude.
“They have also got really good personalities, they just love to play football whether they are training with the first team or playing with the U18s and U21s.
“They all just want to improve and that's the best thing about it.”
Carter Pinnington deserves more praise
By now virtually every Liverpool supporter on the planet will be aware of both Ngumoha and Nyoni. Or at least they should be, anyway.
But less fans will be in the loop on the third player Bridge-Wilkinson is praising here.
However, it’s about time that supporters got to know the talent that is Carter Pinnington.
The Wirral-born youngster has been with Liverpool since the age of six and has developed into a really commanding and reassuring presence in the centre of defence.
Not 18 until February, Pinnington will be one to watch if Liverpool need to delve into the academy to bolster their centre-back options this season. Ngumoha and Nyoni rightly take the headlines, but don’t count Pinnington out from senior action in the future.
