Of all of the young stars rewarded with a promotion to the AXA Training Centre this month, few would have longed for the opportunity as dearly as Jarell Quansah.
The 20-year-old centre-back was one of a handful of youngsters to be plucked from the club's under-18s and under-21s sides and invited to train with the first-team last week while Jurgen Klopp waited for his international contingent to make their return to Kirkby.
It was a favourable return from the towering defender who was quick to catch the eye of the Liverpool boss with a wonderfully-weighted cross-field ball to Dominic Corness in one of the small-sided games taking place at Kirkby. "Nice ball, nice ball!" marvelled the Reds boss as the ball sailed through the air.
For Quansah, the initial session was also his first on home soil in nearly six months after spending the second half of the 2022/23 season on loan at Bristol Rovers in League One.
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Under the guidance of one of the Premier League's most contentious figures in Joey Barton, the Reds' young star couldn't have asked for a more well-versed mentor for the novice days of his professional career in England's third division.
Despite winning just two of his 16 League One appearances with the Pirates as Barton's men nearly sleepwalked towards an immediate return to the English Football League's bottom tier, the Warrington-born loanee's stint in the South West was hugely profitable and one that he will hope leads to further first-team exposure at Anfield in the years ahead.
The former Manchester City, Newcastle and Burnley
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