Six players Liverpool should have loaned out

Liverpool are one of those clubs who always have a good supply of youth talent coming through the ranks.

Every summer, the club has to make a decision about who to keep around the training ground and who to send out on loan.

The balance of getting regular first team football down the ranks or spending time learning from senior players under Jurgen Klopp’s watchful eye has to be maintained.

Klopp has chosen to keep a number of youngsters around Melwood this campaign. First team squad members such as Divock Origi, Ryan Kent, Connor Randell and Sheyi Ojo have been sent out to Wolfsburg, Freiburg, Hearts and Fulham.

But there are plenty of players left at the club who will struggle for first team football this year. Would it have been better to send them out on loan?

Scroll down and click through the slides to read about six who would have benefited more from spending time away from Anfield.

Jon Flanagan

24-year-old right back Jon Flanagan was once tipped to be the next player to break through into the first team, but it hasn’t quite worked out for him.

After a horrible knee injury that saw him miss 51 games, Flanagan was loaned out to Burnley last season. He only played 10 games.

This is such a sad reversal for a player who had such an impressive debut season. Sky Sports reported that Brendan Rodgers called him ‘a revelation’ back in 2013, but it’s all gone downhill for the defender since then.

Is hanging around the squad the best thing for him now? With Alberto Moreno and Andrew Robertson ahead of him for the left-back slot and Nathaniel Clyne and Trent Alexander-Arnold ahead of him at right-back, surely his time would be better spent elsewhere.