Liverpool midfielder 'stopped smiling' at Newcastle and now could rub salt into their wounds

In what will be a testing start to 2024, the Clark family will no doubt have their allegiances to Newcastle United tested when the Magpies travel to Anfield to face Liverpool on New Year's Day

Lee Clark is likely to be in attendance on Merseyside for the latest Premier League instalment between the two sides in which his son, 18-year-old Bobby Clark, could be set for his first senior minutes of the campaign, two-and-a-half years after leaving the Magpies.

The midfielder enjoyed a pre-season breakthrough last summer in the Far East as he bagged his first goal for Liverpool during the 4-0 thrashing of Leicester City at the Singapore National Stadium. And while some supporters may have only then taken notice of the winger-turned-midfielder, he has been on the footballing main stage for most of his junior years.

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After training with Birmingham City's Youth Development Centre during his father's stint as first-team manager at St Andrew's between 2012 and 2014, Bobby later visited all three of the leading clubs in the North East - Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Newcastle - when the family relocated back to the area and eventually committed his immediate years to the Magpies.

Upon deciding that a move away from Newcastle would serve best in his pursuit to make a breakthrough in the Premier League, the midfielder was the subject of a charm offensive approach from some of the division's biggest clubs in the summer of 2021. Liverpool, though, would ultimately win the race for his signature with the helping hand of Reds legend Terry McDermott.

"Why Liverpool? Well, it's because Bobby felt