Ex-Liverpool starlet Conor Masterson: Van Dijk’s dark arts, Neco’s progress
Former Liverpool starlet Conor Masterson left the club last season.
The Irish youngster was around the fringes of the first team squad, but left after failing to make a first team debut.
He was in the same youth squad as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Neco Williams, while Masterson made the squad for a Champions League game against Manchester City.
I spoke to him for 20 minutes before the season started and this is the third and final part of series of articles. Read the first article here, and the second here.
When you make the squad for games like the City Champions League match, are the manager and coaches telling you what to do in order to make the next step or do they leave it up to you?
They just want to see how we are, do you get me? They just give us little tips and things to help and if they think we’re ready they’ll speak to us and if they don’t, they won’t.
That’s just the way things are, but I have to say, when I went up I got more confident, I grew in confidence because I’m with these players and you learn quick, you learn things quickly and I grew as the weeks and months went on and it helped my game a lot.
It was just unfortunate that I got a bad knee injury and had to get an operation.
You talk about these little things, is there anything that you learned in particular or was it just an attitude to the game and a work ethic?
It was definitely professionalism, attitude, sacrifice to the game. These guys were just on it, every day, everything – from just putting on your boots to what you do in the gym before training, what you do in training and the camaraderie. The group as a whole, how together they were, that’s why Liverpool are so good and they’re led by a brilliant manager.
“Van Dijk, I realised, he’ll nudge someone and then he’ll head it.”
The little things I learned, like from Joel Matip or van Dijk, little positioning things and how they nudge players in the air so they get the ball. Van Dijk, I realised, he’ll nudge someone and then he’ll head it so it puts them off balance so he’s definitely going to win the ball.
It’s little things that you wouldn’t think of, you’d just go battle the man to win the ball. But he was a step ahead, you learn things like this, where if I wasn’t with them, I wouldn’t have learned that.
That’s what makes them top players.
The experience they have and the level headedness they have, it’s just everything really – how they eat, how they carry themselves. You learn a lot when you go up there. If you’re a good player and a good person, you learn quickly. If you have an open mind and you’re willing to learn, you’ll develop very quick and that’s why the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones have done very well, because they’re open minded and willing to learn quick.
Even Neco, Neco Williams. He wasn’t one of the best players, when I’m honest, and you look at him now, he looks natural doesn’t he, he looks really good. And that’s because he’s a good lad, willing to learn and open minded and that’s how you make it.
Related Story. Conor Masterson: Feeling like a God, comparing Klopp and Rodgers. light
These players that you see making rapid progressions, is that 50% hard work and 50% luck or do they always have the ability to make it?
You’re right, you are right, you definitely need a bit of luck but you also need hard work because, for example, even Trent. Trent was good, but I wouldn’t say he was the best player in our U18s team but he had his chance – he went up and he learned very quickly.
Neco was similar, he wasn’t one of the best players but he had a good attitude, never gave up, kept plugging away and kept making himself better, made his game better, (behaved) off the pitch better, matured as a person and look at him now. I was watching him earlier, he scored for Wales and he’s doing really well.
Next. Conor Masterson: My knee injury was a sliding doors moment at Liverpool. dark
At Liverpool I loved every minute of it, but I need to play first team football. And was I going to play week-in-week-out? Probably not, let’s be honest. At my age and my position you usually make it later, at the top teams. Look at van Dijk, he’s 29 now and went to Liverpool at 27, so you do usually make it later.