As the 2013/14 seasons edges closer for all our Academy players, there has lots of activity in and around Kirkby in the last week. To make it easier for everyone who is interested in Liverpool’s Academy, I’ve gathered all the news that has happened and as the title says, I’ve rounded it up. Also, this is the first edition of Academy Weekly Round Up on TLW, so if you haven’t read my other 3 editions of Academy Weekly Round Up, there will be linked at the bottom of the page.
Pre-Season Matches
Yet again there has been more pre-season matches for our Under 21s and Under 18s this week for Liverpool’s youngsters to help them prepare for what the new season has to offer. Firstly, the Under 21s played their first match of the Ireland tour against Glentoran. Alex Inglethorpe’s side came away from that match victorious, after a goal from Swedish winger Kris Peterson separated the sides in a 1-0 victory.
The Under 18s were also in action this week, as they were looking to make it two wins on the bounce after defeating Derby County last week. The good news is that they were successful, beating Birmingham Under 18s 4-1, with goals from Harry Wilson, Ryan Kent, Sam Hart and new Spanish signing Sergi Canos, who made his debut for Mike Garrity’s side. Despite two victories in two games, the main concern for Mike Garrity is that they have twice gone behind, so if they are looking to improve they must work on starting well. However, if they recover well and win like they have been doing this pre-season, then they will be successful nonetheless.
Under 21s starting XI: Fulton, McLaughlin, Sama, Sokolik, Roddan; Lussey, Teixeira, Nacho, Peterson, Morgan; Bijev.
Under 18s starting XI: Crump, Alexander, Cleary, Brewitt, Roberts, Burke, Marsh, Ojo, Wilson, O’Hanalon, Robles.
Arrivals
As all of our youth teams are back playing pre-season, there has been only one arrival this week and this is the arrival of 16 year old midfielder Pedro Chirivella from Valencia. It was reported last week that Chirivella was on the verge of signing for the Reds, but this week he is now officially a Liverpool player. Many people like myself only knew the signing of Chirivella was official when he came on as a second half substitute for the Under 18s against Birmingham.
Also, there seems to be a trialist currently at the club by the name of ‘Rafa’. There is little people who know much about ‘Rafa’, with rumours that he is a Brazilian centre-back. He was an second half substitute for the Under 21s in their 1-0 victory at Glentoran, wearing the number 18 shirt.
Departures
There have been two official departures from the Academy this week. Although most of you will know about these two departures, they have been officially confirmed this week. Firstly, Hungarian midfielder Krisztian Adorjan has been loaned out to Dutch club Groningen for the 2013/14 season. If he impresses with Groningen, then they have an option to buy the midfielder for €250,000 at the end of the season.
The other departure from Kirkby this week is that Under 21s captain Conor Coady has officially been loaned out to Sheffield United for 6 months. Coady made his debut for the Blades in their 1-0 win against Alfreton Town earlier in the week.
In Other News…
This is the section where I review any other news that has happened at Kirkby this week. This feature will not be in every week’s edition of Academy Weekly Round Up. Firstly, it seems that Under 21s goalkeeper Yusuf Mersin’s talks with Milwall have fell through. This was because Mersin was an unused substitute for the Under 21, when he was on the verge of joining Milwall at the end of last season.
Also, the Under 18s fixtures have been released. Liverpool start the new season away to Arsenal, before a Merseyside derby in the second game of the season.
That’s it for the Academy Weekly Round Up for the week commencing 21st July, if you enjoyed the blog, be sure to share it on either Facebook or Twitter and let me know your thoughts in the comments below. Also for more Academy updates, be sure to follow me on Twitter (@scotttayloruk). See you next week for another Academy Weekly Round Up.
1st edition – http://thenextgenkopites.wordpress.com/2013/07/05/academy-weekly-round-up/
2nd edition – http://thenextgenkopites.wordpress.com/2013/07/12/academy-weekly-round-up-2/
3rd edition – http://thenextgenkopites.wordpress.com/2013/07/19/academy-weekly-round-up-3/
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