Liverpool’s £500,000 signing robberies show former Premier League star’s son continues scoring streak
Liverpool Under-18s ended their Premier League North season in style by beating Newcastle United 3-1 at the Academy on Saturday afternoon.
Lewis Koumas scores in Liverpool’s second goal (Image: John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Calum Scanlon netted two assists to ensure Liverpool U18s finished their Premier League North season with adamant strength by beating Newcastle United 3-1 on Saturday afternoon.
Scanlon, a full-back signed in 2021 from Championship side Birmingham City for £500,000, helped the young Reds to an early lead at Kirkby with less than 60 seconds on the clock when he crossed to end the a powerful run down the left flank Ball for James McConnell to head home against his youth club.
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson’s side doubled their lead over the Magpies just five minutes later when Scanlon became the assist again – this time with a high, perfectly weighted pass from inside his own half that Lewis Koumas gave calmly completed.
It was the fitting end to a stellar singles campaign on Merseyside for the 17-year-old, son of former West Brom and Wales striker Jason Koumas, as he scored his 16th goal of the season – a form that rewarded him with promotion to U23
Johnny Emerson of the line. Elijah Gift, who came on for Figueroa at half-time, embellished his energetic performance eight minutes after the restart when he grabbed the ball from McConnell before bursting into the box and past Aidan Harris to score his fourth goal of the season.
Koumas would stab the palms of Harris twice more as he worked tirelessly to add a late volley of goals to his tally for the campaign before Newcastle ended Hewitson’s hopes of conceding when Dylan Charlton’s cross was sliced into the back of the net after a lousy outing. of Pitt.
The win takes the Reds’ youth season record to 31 points after 24 full games and puts them sixth in the Premier League North table. This, however, could change if the teams below them win their remaining matches.
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“Luis Diaz was the best player in the Portuguese league and we got him. After he left, Darwin Nunez was the best player in the Portuguese league and we got him. He’ll be fine here.”
The Portuguese transfer market has served Liverpool well in recent years, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders’ faith in club-record signing Nunez ultimately proven justified during his first season at Anfield.
While the Uruguayan hasn’t quite enjoyed the same instant electric impact of the Colombian in what has been a difficult campaign for the Reds overall, a return of 15 goals is certainly respectable. Still only 23, the best is still to come. Prior to Nunez’s first £64m transfer to Liverpool last summer, Diaz was signed by FC Porto in January for £49m. A serious knee injury may have limited his impact this year, but Kopites has already seen more than enough to be thrilled by the striker’s return to form and back to form.
Upon signing Diaz, Jurgen Klopp paid tribute to Lijnders and elite development coach Vitor Matos, who had both previously worked at Porto, with the latter having been at the club when the winger was signed by Junior de Barranquilla, when they first signed Liverpool. time warned of the Colombian international and helped move to Anfield.
“We can’t keep an eye out for all the interesting players, me or the coaches; our scouts do and we have the department for that,” Klopp said. “Very often we just get a hint that we should take a closer look at him or her and we do. “That doesn’t mean he’s a player for us in the next transfer window, but with Porto, of course, it’s different because of Pep and Vitor (Matos). I’m not sure, but Vitor probably watches all Porto matches and Pep a lot., and they were very early on and they said to me, ‘that’s a very interesting guy there and we should take a closer look’, and we’ve been watching him ever since.
“He’s part of the process. We can’t keep an eye on the whole world all the time, but the club is quite committed to it. If there is a good player or a real talent, we know him. We just have to decide if it’s interesting for us or not, do we have someone in this position or not, do we have someone in this position, do we have a young player to follow? all those things It’s the process.”
Unlike when Geoff Twentyman and Tom Saunders scoured the UK for first-hand talent before replacing Bill Shankly, Bob Paisley and Joe Fagan, it’s now normal for the first quest to take place virtually. But Lijnders and Matos’ relationship with Porto and Portugal helped Liverpool move for Diaz. Indeed, it was a similar story when the Reds signed Diogo Jota from Wolves. As the Reds debated a three-man striker shortlist in the summer of 2020, it was Lijnders who spoke to trusted allies in Porto for a glowing reference for the striker, who eventually saw competition of Ismaila Sarr and Jonathan David, to join the club. in a £45m deal.