INTERVIEWYour experience includes working with players from very young
ages to Porto’s ‘B’ team – how impressed are you with the depth of
talent coming through from the Academy?
I really think we have amazing players here in the Academy,
players with a big talent in them. Sometimes talented players only
need guidance, space and opportunities. When they have these
connections between quality training sessions, quality moments to
compete, quality moments to train, you can really start thinking of
development. You need to have a good base of potential like we
have here in the Academy in Kirkby, so it’s been amazing.
It’s Liverpool, you know already they will be talented players for
sure, but when you look at them it’s unbelievable. The mentality that
they have from being here to the technical quality they have is really
good. The Academy is doing a good job respecting the individual
development of each talent, having a plan for each player, knowing
what will be their next step.
How important is it to help the young players understand
Liverpool FC’s values?
The character of the coach will be revealed in the character of the
team. When we look to the irst team, we can see the impact Jürgen
has on all these players.
The values the irst team, shown to everyone in a game or training
session, should be the core values of the club, so that means no
complaining, training hard, working hard, putting the team above
you and helping the club to achieve what the club wants.
So these kind of values are the Liverpool mentality, and it is this
mentality which makes us stronger.
Next season the Academy and first-team will all be on one site –
how much easier will that make things?
It will help not only because it is a world-class facility in which to
train but it is somewhere we can create a real culture of the club as
everyone will be in one place. The feeling we have when go will be,
‘This is Liverpool FC, this is where the magic happens!’
Having this new facility will also help with the sharing of
information between the diferent departments. The Academy
players will be able to see how the irst team trains and see the life of
a professional player, while the irst-team staf can look at the talents
we have. This connection will be really amazing.What would you most like to help the young players achieve both
in the short-term and medium-term?
In the short-term it is a case of prioritising what is the most
important thing for that player to work on, whether that be
restructuring or reining something, so he can perform well and
show his talent.
Medium-term, we can say of all the things we are working on,
what will help make his process or project more consistent? In the
end, for sure he will need to become a Liverpool FC player. For me,
seeing a young player making a debut in the irst team, the feeling
you can have with that is unbelievable.Five teenagers figured in the Carabao Cup win over Arsenal in
October – you must have been extremely proud of how they
performed?
It was amazing. More than that, it is amazing that we have a
coaching staf that believed that was possible to happen. It is
possible for us to mix experience with youth talents and we can still
be competitive while also playing really good football in a game style
that pleased the fans and pleased everyone.
To draw 5-5 and win on penalties, it’s a game I will not forget
when I am 90 years old! For sure it will be the case with the players
as well. It was unbelievable.TRAINING HARD, WORKING HARD, PUTTING
THE TEAM FIRST... THESE KIND OF VALUES
ARE THE LIVERPOOL MENTALITY