The best Liverpool Academy players you haven’t heard of yet
By Roy Skillen
Juanma Garcia
Finding a decent long-term left back has been the scourge of many a Liverpool manager. Gerard Houllier seemed to have it nailed with Norwegian John Arne Riise for a short time but over the years the likes of Christan Ziege, Paul Konchesky, Fabio Aurelio and Alberto Moreno have been signed and failed to impress while the likes of Jamie Carragher and James Milner have been forced to play out of position to fill the void.
There is no doubt that Jurgen Klopp has spotted the flaw in his Liverpool squad and the signing of the reliable Scottish international Andy Robertson could prove to be a shrewd piece of business. But with Milner now in his 30s and Moreno looking like being shipped out the former Hull City star is going to need long-term competition for his spot.
20-year-old Juanma Garcia could provide that cover after joining from Barcelona in 2016 where he rose to captain the club’s Youth A team before making the move to England. Having come from the famed La Masia academy, Juanma, has all the ball playing skills you would expect. It took just couple of training sessions at Liverpool’s Kirkby Academy for the club to insist on making the deal a long-term one.
“He’s only had a couple of days training with us, speaks very little English but you can see a very good player,” said former U23 coach Michael Beale before stating that we could have a Pablo Zabaleta on our hands.
“He’s very versatile and can play in different positions because technically he’s very good. I quite like him, he reminds he a little bit of someone like a Pablo Zabaleta-type player, a nice player.”
Juanma has also been capped at Spanish youth level along with other Liverpool academy players Madger Gomes and Pedro Chirivella.