At every big club, you will find stars all over the place in the Senior team, as they capture all the headlines on a weekly basis.
However, in order to sustain long-term success as a marquee club, you need to hit on at least a few homegrown talents from within your Academy setup. That means U14, U16, U18 and U21 levels are all so important to nurturing the young talent at a club.
Liverpool have a plethora of young talent in their pipeline and the future does look very bright indeed if even a handful of these youngsters turn into something later on down the line.
With that in mind, I wanted to examine three of the best performers for the Liverpool U21 side, as they are best positioned to make the jump to the first team at some point. Let's see which young Reds have performed best at this level this season.
3. Amara Nallo - DF
We begin our rankings with perhaps the best young defender in the Liverpool Academy as of this writing.
Nallo has made 19 appearances in Premier League 2 with 17 of those being starts as he has been the anchor in the heart of defense for Barry Lewtas' side this term.
Other young defenders such as James Norris and Lee Jonas could have been here as well, but they simply have not turned out enough times for the Liverpool U21 side.
Of those that have played at least 15 times in Premier League 2, Nallo is T1 in the squad for points per match earned by his team when he plays. That's a direct reflection of the impact he has on the pitch whenever he gets an opportunity.
He could be a piece to the defensive puzzle under Arne Slot in future years, and he has only risen his stock this campaign.
2. Ranel Young - FW
Next on our list comes the 19-year old English attacker who has had a very solid season playing for the U21 side in 2024/25.
He's been growing in the Liverpool Academy for nearly a decade now, and having signed his first professional contract in 2023 has only kicked on from there.
He was named in Arne Slot's first team for the 4th round Carabao Cup match against Brighton showcasing the trust he has earned from the coaches at the club. He's a natural winger that has been asked to play more of a center-forward role this season, not unlike Luis Diaz or Cody Gakpo at times.
Young has produced 5 goals and 3 assists from all competitions this season and his attacking versatility is something that should serve him well in his future.
He's made 20 appearances in Premier League 2, but only 14 have been starts, as he has fought the myriad of other young attacking talents at Liverpool.
1. Kieran Morrison - MF, FW
It feels like the Northern Irish playmaker has been around forever, but still only 18, he continues to grow and show flashes of his high-end potential.
This season he has made 27 appearances for Liverpool U21's in all comps while racking up 6 goals and 5 assists.
He is a playmaker at heart and he can also play in a variety of position in the final 1/3 of the pitch as needed. He has a dynamism to him that not all players at this level posses. He plays with a lot of confidence befitting a player of his future makeup.
While the club have not had a lot of success this season, Morrison has taken another step forward in his growth and he will be hoping to get a few cracks at the First Team during the 2025/26 campaign.
If the club can keep putting him in the right spots, we will continue to see goal contributions coming from him at every level. He has been one of Lewtas' more consistent performers this season and a big impression in preseason this summer would do wonders for him going forward.