How FSG can sign Liverpool’s biggest English talent since Alexander-Arnold

Last summer, Liverpool sold Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen in a deal worth around £35m. In hindsight, the Reds made a mistake, with a lack of defensive depth calling for someone of the England international’s skillset.

Now, Arsenal have a vested interest in the 23-year-old, having made contact with his camp as they look to strengthen their defensive fold after William Saliba underwent a procedure on a back problem.

For Liverpool, this merely emphasises the frustration over letting an academy talent leave. Arne Slot struggled to warm to Liverpool’s academy members, tearing up ‘Klopp’s Kids’ and creating a streamlined base of first-teamers who, in fairness, won the 2024/25 Premier League title.

The buck hasn’t stopped there, though. Liverpool are now preparing to sell Curtis Jones to Inter Milan, and wherever you stand with that one, there’s no question that it’s heightened the need for a rekindled connection with the academy.

Why Liverpool need to reboot their academy connection

Liverpool are nurturing one of Europe’s most exciting forwards in Rio Ngumoha. He is tipped for superstardom, but there is work to be done if Andoni Iraola’s side are to maintain an academy connection that has been deepened over the past decade or so, principally because of Jurgen Klopp and his managerial influence.

Trent Alexander-Arnold left Liverpool and joined Real Madrid at the end of his contract in 2025, a deeply contentious move. Now, Jones is set to be shipped on as he searches for a role of greater seniority.

Perhaps it’s the right call, but it does expose a lack of homegrown talent to have actually burst onto the major stage. Even Tyler Morton was sold under Slot’s management, now growing into a coveted mainstay at Lyon in France.

In Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool had themselves a generational talent, a creative genius who we may never see again in the Premier League. Not from right-back, not like him.

Ngumoha aside, there’s a question mark hanging over the up-and-coming quality at Anfield. Where will the next Alexander-Arnold spring up from?

Liverpool have enjoyed plucking prized prospects from Premier League rivals of late, and they could repeat that trick soon, if reports at to be believed.

Liverpool eyeing move for Man Utd prospect

Liverpool have one of the Premier League’s most exciting teenagers in Ngumoha. Two years ago, they nabbed him from Chelsea, whose overflowing youth system saw one of the pick of the bunch slip through their fingers.

It was an emphatic move, but if Liverpool were to take JJ Gabriel from Manchester United, it would surely trump it. According to TEAMtalk, any number of elite outfits are interested in swiping the prodigious talent. The Red Devils are trying to secure his future through a pre-contract agreement, but with a professional deal yet to be engineered, Liverpool have emerged as surprise contenders for his signature.

The 15-year-old is widely regarded as “one of the most exciting talents in the world“, as has been said by the Manchester Evening News’ Steven Railston, and is already dazzling analysts with his age-belying technical command, versatility and unpredictable attacking edge.

The leap from youth football to the senior stage is a big one, but Gabriel has certainly started out on strong footing, having scored 29 goals and supplied four assists across 32 games for Man United’s U18s.

Though Gabriel hasn’t started his young career in Liverpool, there’s no question that he could become a superstar for the Reds, and having yet to make his senior deubt for his current employers, could emerge as Liverpool’s next version of someone like Trent, should they somehow pull off this brazen deal.

Given that Trent bloomed onto the scene in 2017/18, a teenager back then, there’s certainly something to be said for his importance across this modern golden era on Merseyside.

And now, with the Iraola era about to get underway, we could see a similar pattern emerge, Gabriel rising and cementing himself as a mainstay for the Spaniard, synonymous with a forthcoming chapter that may deliver titles and success.

Gabriel is still so young, so it’s important that he is not overburdened from the get-go, but there’s no question over his gifted footballing ability, and perhaps he should look at the career pathways of fellow Englishmen such as Trent and Ngumoha when determining the right move for him to make at this nascent stage.

Liverpool could pull off one of the most stunning deals in their modern history here, avenging that one-time transfer that saw Michael Owen return to England but settle at Old Trafford.