Liverpool’s title winners – by the coaches who discovered them
Simon Hughes, James Pearce and more Jul 21, 2020
(Other contributors: Charlotte Harpur, Oliver Kay, Raphael Honigstein and Jack Lang)
Liverpool are champions for the first time in 30 years. When that achievement last happened, the make-up of the squad had an exotic twist. Bruce Grobbelaar came from Zimbabwe, Ronny Rosenthal from Israel, Jan Molby from Denmark and Glenn Hysen from Sweden. Yet the majority of players were English, Scottish, Irish and Welsh and their back-stories were similar. Academy football did not exist and apprenticeships, if a player was lucky, were served from the age of 16 at the earliest.
The landscape of the game has changed dramatically. Liverpool’s team now includes three world-class Brazilians. The wingers are the best in Africa. There are two mainstays of the Dutch national side. The early careers of some players were shaped by the consequences of civil war in eastern Europe. Unlike stars at other clubs, not all of Liverpool’s players were predicted to become legends. The majority have followed uncertain routes, their paths to the top less trodden.
The Athletic has spent the last six months attempting to track down each player’s first coach. Where health has intervened, we have interviewed the next coach along in the process. This pursuit has taken us to villages in rural Egypt – where Mohamed Salah was spotted by a scout before he’d even played a competitive game of football. It has also taken us to the housing estates of the Netherlands and the suburbs of Switzerland.
The subsequent testimonies are determined in order of number of league appearances before Liverpool’s players got their hands on the Premier League trophy following their game at Anfield against Chelsea. For the players who have made a handful of appearances nearer the end of the season, we look forward to telling your stories in the coming years.
We hope you enjoy the piece.
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“The hairs on the back of my neck stood up when I saw him for the first time.”
Trent Alexander-Arnold (36 appearances)
By Ian Barrigan, his coach at Country Park, Liverpool
Trent’s career could have turned out differently. I have no doubt he’d have become a top-class footballer because of his talent and focus. Without the story of Ian Dawes, though, maybe his path doesn’t involve Liverpool.
My father-in-law Jimmy Aspinall was a famous scout who identified a lot of junior players for Liverpool. In the mid-1990s he was desperate to sign Ian, a lad from the Litherland-Aintree area. He was a centre midfielder who’d been at Everton but he decided to leave because they played him at left-back.
I knew Ian’s dad, Alan. I’d worked with him for years. I went to see him on behalf of Jimmy and managed to persuade him to sign for Liverpool. It was a big catch because everyone else at Liverpool had failed, as had scouts of other clubs. Steve Heighway asked Jimmy how he’d managed to bring Ian in and Jimmy told him about my involvement. That led to a meeting with Steve, who asked me to do some more scouting for him.
The arrangement was ideal because I’d just started running a team in the Walton & Kirkdale League called Country Park. It was the most competitive junior league in Liverpool and it meant I was seeing a lot of talented players every weekend. The standard was so high in the league that Crewe Alexandra entered a team in one of the age groups — and they didn’t finish top.
As Country Park grew as a club, with other ages playing under our umbrella, my role at Liverpool evolved. By 2005, I was in charge of Liverpool’s development centre in Norris Green. This was a place for players to come and train if they weren’t already signed on. It was an opportunity for lots of kids.
Jimmy had always told me that whenever you see a player with incredible talent, the hairs on the back of your neck stick up. That was what happened when I saw Trent for the first time. He showed up as a six-year-old at the development centre one night and I just thought, “Jesus…”
I was surprised that he wasn’t already training with Liverpool full-time. I walked straight over to his mum Diane and asked, “Is he definitely supposed to be here?” I wondered if he was meant to be at a session at the academy in Kirkby five miles away instead. She got a bit defensive about it, thinking that I was questioning whether she’d taken a wrong turning. Trent lived on Queens Drive near Muirhead Avenue and Diane explained that she knew her way around. I was, like, “Listen, he’s really good… he’s better than the development centre already.”
I got straight on the phone that night and made sure the coaches at the academy had a look at Trent as soon as possible. He was six but they decided he should be playing with seven-year-olds. Meanwhile, Diane told me that Trent was looking to play for a Sunday league team as well. He’d trained a couple of times for a few sides but hadn’t signed for anyone. I was managing Country Park’s under-sevens, so we brought him in.
It quickly became clear he was far too good for his own age group. He’d score 10 goals a game. So he often played in higher age groups with Country Park. Diane would tell me that he didn’t enjoy under-sevens so much, because he found it too easy. I thought it was important that he still played there because the way he dominated games gave him confidence. Sometimes, if you promote players too quickly, they forget what joy feels like.
These were small-sided games and he’d always play in the middle of midfield because he was the best player. Once he was in possession, you couldn’t get it off him. He was so driven. Sometimes in training, I’d spice things up by giving a few penalties against Trent’s team. He hated that. He’d go home and tell Diane he never wanted to play again because of the injustice. But he was always there the next week.
Diane has been such a positive influence on Trent’s career and life. Even now, she doesn’t place him on any pedestal – always reminding him of how far he has to go. Back then, she was at every game and she’d collect the subs off the parents. She was my debt collector.
On one occasion, both Trent and I missed the opening game of the season for Country Park. I had to attend a scouting meeting at Liverpool while Trent was in London with his mum and his brothers visiting his father, who worked down there.
I asked a guy called Frank Kelly to take charge of the under-sevens, and we lost 2-0. I wound Frank up, telling him that we’d win again the following week 10-0 – that the defeat must have been down to him being the manager. I knew Trent was playing, of course. Frank was doubtful. He knew the team was OK, “but there are no superstars”, he told me.
Frank went back to his role in charge of the under-11s. The next weekend, they’d kicked off a bit earlier than us on the same pitches and Frank came running over after about 20 minutes, asking how we were getting on. We were already 6-0 up, but I’d lost count. I had to ask someone for the score. The next thing, Trent gets the ball, charges down the wing and blasts a shot into the top corner. Frank goes, “Where the hell’s he come from?”
“Haven’t you met Trent?”
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“I called him Alberto but he never corrected me.”
Roberto Firmino (36 appearances)
By Hemerson Maria, his coach at Figueirense, Brazil
I first met Roberto in 2008, when he came for a trial at Figueirense. I was under-17s coach. Those usually last two or three weeks, which is enough time to know whether a player has the ability or not. Roberto’s trial lasted 30 minutes. He smashed it. He scored two overhead kicks, just like that. He showed real technical quality; there was a big difference between him and the other boys. He was a class above. I knew that if he maintained that level of performance and dedication, he could become a top player — at our club and even abroad.
For some time, I called him “Alberto”. It was, “Over here, Alberto! Make that run, Alberto!” He just kept responding to the name, because he was an obedient kid. He didn’t even correct me. He never came up to me and told me his name was actually Roberto. One day, the fitness coach gave me a nudge. “Hey, Hemerson. That kid’s name is Roberto, not Alberto.” I called him over. “Alberto, get over here!” In front of the fitness coach, I asked him what his name was. When he said it was Roberto, I asked why he had been responding to Alberto that whole time. He said, “Ah, professor, I was just following your lead.” That showed the simplicity and humility of the kid.
What caught the eye was his vision of the game, his capacity to see things before they happened. He saw things that others didn’t see, which is a mark of the great players. He was also a very good finisher and had real discipline: he would track back and give his absolute maximum in every training session. He wasn’t just one of the most talented players I trained, but also one of the hardest workers. Honestly, he was an example to the other boys of his age.
He was a really shy kid. Roberto was never a leader in the sense of talking a lot, putting himself out there in public. In the dining room, the dormitories or the team bus, he was very quiet and watchful. But he was always smiling: he was a happy kid, who had charisma. His leadership was to do with technique. He expressed himself out on the pitch: that was where he felt at home. He was respected by the other members of the group. Sometimes the best player gets jealous looks or thinks he’s above the rest, but Roberto was never like that. Everyone loved him.
He came from a very poor part of the country, from a very modest family. As a result, he did not eat well for a significant part of his childhood and adolescence. We picked up on that and knew he would have to put on some more muscle mass. Especially because of the kind of player he was: he was aggressive and liked to go at his opponents. Sometimes he would be at a disadvantage when it came to physical contact, shoulder to shoulder. We worked on that a lot with him.
We also wanted him to be more objective. He was technically gifted, perhaps the most complete player I have ever worked with. But he sometimes lacked clarity when it came to finishing moves. He liked to “decorate”, to do the aesthetic thing when he needed to keep things simple. We talked about that with him; he understood and improved.
That move where he looks one way and plays the ball the other? He already did that when I knew him. He would do it quite often, to the point of exaggeration. It used to really annoy his opponents, who thought he was mocking them. He got a lot of kicks because of that. We told him he didn’t need to do it all the time. Time has shown that it’s one of his trademarks, but he picks his moments now.
I remember one moment that really showed his desire to succeed. We had a few days off at the end of a regional championship, which we were going to use to prepare for the Copa Sao Paulo youth tournament. Roberto quite simply didn’t want to go home. He said he needed to keep training, to work on a few things. And that if he went home, it would just be one more mouth to feed. He said he’d only go home when he became a big player – when he had done something with his life. That was soon after he arrived. If I’m not mistaken, he went seven months without going back home. He had an objective, and things happened very quickly for him: he was one of the standout players at the Copa Sao Paulo, catching the eye of various teams in Brazil around the world. After the tournament, he was moved up into Figueirense’s senior squad.
I lost contact with him. I became a coach in senior football and life just got in the way. But I have great admiration for the boy: not just the player, but the person. He’s one of the good guys; I don’t think he has changed despite becoming a big global star. He has the same personality, and he has not forgotten his roots. If I saw him now, I would congratulate him and tell him that he is reaping what he sowed all those years ago. All that hard work, commitment, sacrifice… the things he is achieving today all came from that. I wish him all the best and hope he keeps being the same marvellous person that I knew.
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“It looked like he was taking it easy but a fire burned inside of him.”
Virgil van Dijk (36 appearances)
By Rik Kleijn, his coach at WDS’19 in Breda, Holland
To explain Virgil’s story with WDS’19, you have to begin with Jordy Brugel, the goalkeeper for our team. I have a photograph of that team. It was taken in 2001 – the year we conceded just one goal all season. In the photograph, Virgil is kneeling in the front row rather than standing on the back row and that reminds you he wasn’t the tallest player. He was an average-sized boy, but he was a central defender, and nobody seemed to be able to pass him even then. This meant that Jordy became very bored. Most games, he had nothing to do and we became champions. It proved to be Jordy’s father who recommended Virgil to (Tilburg-based club) Willem II and the rest, as they say, is history.
His background in Breda had involved outdoor soccer courts, promoted by Johan Cruyff’s foundation. There is at least one court in every city and the one near Virgil’s home, in the Kesteren area of Haagse Beemden, was very popular. The court is surrounded by more than 10,000 social houses built in the early 1980s and I suppose it has a bad image but lots of good working-class people come from there.
The Cruyff court on the Kesterenlaan was a meeting place for people of all ages. It enabled young players to test their skills against older players. This would accelerate their understanding of the game; when to release the ball and how to ride tackles. I am told that teams would stay on the court until they lost. Virgil wasn’t always the most obvious competitor because he played the game at his own pace and sometimes this translated as him taking it easy. But a fire burned inside him, and I am told he’d regularly spend hour after hour on the courts of Breda, because his team would keep winning.
Our football club was two miles or so from Virgil’s home. The club has teams from six years old up to the veterans of 60-plus, who participate in walking football. It is a very community-minded place. There is a canteen that serves food and beer and, even in the winter, we host barbecues. We played in blue and white stripes and photographs of many of the successful teams that have represented the club decorate the walls of the clubhouse.
Aged nine, Virgil played seven-a-side every Saturday morning. We had a squad of eight with one sub. I would be lying if I said I thought then that he would become a Premier League and Champions League winner, as well as the captain of Holland. To me, he was simply an outstanding player who had a chance of becoming a footballer.
Frank Brugel was Jordy’s dad and he had been a professional footballer, a goalkeeper with RBC Roosendaal and Willem II, where he still did a bit of informal scouting. Because Frank was a goalkeeper, I think he felt as though he knew a thing or two about defensive positions. I remember him telling me that what stood out most about Virgil in those early days was his athletic ability, as well as the way he struck the ball. It helped that Virgil was able to stride forward like Ronald Koeman and contribute goals. He could take free kicks. All of this led to Frank inviting him to Willem II when he was 10. When he left, it is fair to say our team was not as good as it was before.
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“He never panicked, he was always calm.”
Georginio Wijnaldum (35 appearances)
By Claudio Braga, his coach at Sparta Rotterdam, Holland
Georginio joined the Sparta academy at the age of six. He was a perfect boy, always smiling. He performed so well. It’s rare for someone so young to have such a high technical level.
What made Georginio stand out from the rest was his ability to make the right decisions in games when he was in difficult situations. He never panicked. He was always calm.
He was a young boy with a winning mentality and he made a lot of goals. As coaches, what made us believe that he would reach the top was that he had more than just talent, he had the right attitude too.
He was 100 per cent in love with football. Before training sessions he would be playing on the streets or in the grounds of the academy. After the sessions it was always the same. He would stay around with a ball at his feet working on his movement or his shooting. It was beautiful to watch.
Wijnaldum is second from left in the back row next to coach Kenneth Butter
He had the ability to play as a striker, a winger, a No 10 and a defensive midfielder, but it was clear that offensive midfielder was his best role. He had lovely skill. He was always in control of the ball.
I remember in games he would find himself in complex situations when the opposition tried to press him. But he always used his body well and found a way out of those situations. He had a great eye for a pass and created a lot of goals, which was very important for someone in his position. He had great vision. He was so good at bringing the ball forward and turning defence into attack. He would switch the play from one wing to the other intelligently.
When he was part of my under-13s team, he was the reason why we had a lot of coaches and a lot of scouts coming to watch our games. They all knew we had a good one here. It wasn’t difficult to see. By then, he was in the Dutch international youth teams.
He didn’t like going to school too much, he just wanted to play football. I remember his grandmother and his uncle would bring him to training and to matches. He always took on board advice from coaches about how to improve himself. In the locker room he was always friendly and helpful to his team-mates. He certainly wasn’t an introvert.
It was 100 per cent clear at that stage he was going to the top. At the age of 14, he made the decision to take the step to Feyenoord. Believe me, every club in Holland wanted to sign Georginio at that stage. They all knew he was a special kid.
I am delighted with what Georginio has gone on to achieve in his career and watching him win big trophies with Liverpool. But for me there’s greater pride in seeing what kind of man he’s become. He’s someone who always looks to help others. He’s still a role model.
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“A boy who didn’t give up and made the best of what he had.”
Andy Robertson (34 appearances)
By Bernie Airlie, his coach at Giffnock Soccer Centre in Glasgow, Scotland
We used play three or four small-sided games against different teams at one hub on the same day and there would always be a bit of waiting around between matches.
Kids being kids, most of them would be messing about, playing tag, chasing each other around. Not Andy. I remember he used that time to kick a ball off the wall — left foot, right foot, over and over again. Andy was so dedicated. A bit of a throwback in many ways.
My son Mark and Andy became good friends. They went to St Joseph’s Primary School and St Ninian’s High School together nearby and keep in contact to this day. Andy captained the high school team and his dad Brian, who was a good footballer himself, was a coach at the club.
He must have been about eight when I first coached him. He was a wee bit small for his age but he was always full of energy. He was predominantly left-footed but pretty comfortable on his right too.
Robertson (left) takes the lead
Andy was always great at getting up and down the pitch. He was a naturally fit boy with huge enthusiasm for the game and composed on the ball. I always envisaged him being a left-sided player – his athleticism meant he was perfect for full-back or wing-back.
You could see from an early age that he was a good player but, as my son and I always say, Andy wasn’t an absolute standout. He was surrounded by good players. You wouldn’t have said he was head and shoulders above the rest. You wouldn’t have guessed you were looking at a future Champions League and Premier League winner.
At these match hubs, you’d have 200 to 300 kids all playing, so it was a good place for scouts to take a look. At the age of 10, Andy was picked up by Celtic. That meant he couldn’t play for us anymore.
A lot of kids get hoovered up by professional clubs and then released further down the road. It’s a conveyor belt. That’s what happened to Andy. Celtic thought he was too small but that rejection only made him more determined to succeed.
The history of football is full of examples of really gifted young players not making it to the top. You’ve got to be exceptional. You need an inner belief and you need to be willing to make sacrifices to fulfil your dreams. That’s Andy. He was never going to be Messi or Ronaldo but he maximised his ability and he learned and developed to become one of the best left-backs in the world.
Andy is an inspiration to the kids at Giffnock. Some of the younger boys didn’t realise he’d played for the club until we talked to them about him. It’s a great example of what can be achieved if you are completely dedicated and if you respond positively to setbacks along the way.
A boy who didn’t give up and made the best of what he had – there’s a life lesson there, as well as a football lesson.
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“Working in the fields made him tough.”
Sadio Mane (33 appearances)
By Abdou Diatta, scout at Generation Foot in Dakar, Senegal
Our groundsman first spotted Sadio in Mbour, which is 200 miles away from his hometown of Bambali. The first time I saw him play, I was astonished. I asked myself how the club had not seen him up until now. He was formidable. He gifted us that day with his talent. He scored many, many goals.
But on his first day of training, he was very, very shy. He was alone and kept himself to himself. The team would carry the equipment all together but when he came to the pitch he would stay to one side and carry his boots. When I saw that, I went up to him and said, “In football, you can’t be shy like that. You have to approach your team-mates — you have to try.”
I spoke to him as if he were my son. “You have come all the way from Casamance for football. You have left your family. Here in Dakar, it is very tough. In order to succeed, you have to work hard and commit.”
He said to me, “Dad,” — because he called me Dad, he didn’t call me by my name — “don’t worry, I am going to succeed at football.”
That’s my most treasured memory of him, and he has succeeded. Gradually, he became more confident, talking to the team, drinking tea and eating together. Sadio was always very physical, that’s why his physicality doesn’t surprise me when I watch him play today because he already had it from a young age. He never got tired.
Mane with Diatta
I’m from the same region as him in Casamance and in our region we work every day in the fields. Parents would say, “Get up, you have to go to work.” He already had the mental toughness as a child because if you don’t, you can’t work in the fields. That’s what life is like over here.
We speak, but not often. Sometimes he calls me to say hello. And some years I don’t hear from him at all. He’s a very busy man, a global sportsman. If he’s preparing for a match, he can’t be on the phone to me.
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“We should watch this boy closely when he puts his kit on.”
Mohamed Salah (32 appearances)
By Reda El-Mallah, a scout in Nagrig, Egypt
The pitch in Nagrig had no grass. In the summer, there was only dust. When it rained, it turned into mud. And there was only one pitch. The fields surrounding the town were filled with jasmine and garlic. You could not play football on them.
There are thousands of villages like Nagrig across Egypt, places built out of the countryside and often without safety permits. Most of the properties in Nagrig look the same. Bricks and cement. Very little planning.
The sports field in Nagrig was surrounded by such buildings. Each night, hundreds of children would play there. Games were not organised. There was no official league. But scouts recognised there was talent to be found in villages like Nagrig, where players had nothing and their determination to do well took them further than kids who had more from Cairo.
I heard about a game that took place every week involving dozens of children so I went along to have a look, hoping I might find a player. The boy everyone in Nagrig was talking about was called Sherif. I had high hopes for him. He was a good footballer but not on the same level as Mohamed. Because he was so young, he was only asked to play because we did not have enough players to make up two teams.
After the trial I went to Mohamed and asked him whether he’d be interested in training with Tanta Club. Tanta is a city an hour’s drive from Nagrig. All of the roads are bumpy. Mohamed told me that he’d only ever been as far as Basyoun, a much closer village. He had to ask his father for permission.
I thought he trained well at the trial but the youth coaches decided to monitor from afar rather than invite him back. I was very surprised because I thought they would have more sense – his talent was obvious.
The following week, I arranged another trial at Tanta Club’s city rivals, Othmason. It was difficult for any player to stand out that day because so many games were going on at the same time. Mohamed was waiting for his chance on the side of the pitch and he was still wearing his jeans when a ball was cleared and he managed to control it using his chest. There was a coach called Farag El Saidy, who said, “We should watch this boy very closely when he puts his kit on.”
El Saidy was smart and invited him to join the team straight away. Mohamed played for Othmason for nearly a year before scouts from Cairo started watching him. He joined Al Mokawloon because of Refaat Ragab. He was a legend of Egyptian football and was running a youth training scheme in association with Pepsi. When he saw Mohamed’s speed, he told the people he knew at Al Mokawloon and his life changed from there.
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“He missed a penalty in a shootout and his lip went.”
Jordan Henderson (30 appearances)
By Shaun Turnbull, his manager at Fulwell Juniors, Sunderland
We played every Saturday morning at Monkton Stadium in Jarrow. Fulwell Juniors were the best youth team in Sunderland and every side in the region was desperate to beat us. We played in black and blue stripes with black shorts and socks.
Jordan was a talented player but there were no duds at Fulwell. Each boy brought something different to the table. Jordan as a bairn was the footballer you see today. His commitment was off the scale. And he could run for England.
After matches, he’d leave the pitch lathered in sweat. Even if we were winning by a big margin, he’d keep going. He was always desperate for more and he’d demand the same of his team-mates. Even though he was more of a right midfielder, he set the tone for the team. He wouldn’t allow commitment or standards to slip.
When he felt like he’d let others down, he’d sometimes get in a bit of a state. I remember him missing a penalty in a shootout and his lip went. His dad was on the side of the pitch, reminding him there was still a chance we could go through. Fortunately enough, we did and in the final he scored twice. When I look back now, I think this was an important lesson for Jordan because it made him really realise how much of a team game football is. On other occasions, he was there to bail others out.
Jordan and his best mate Michael McKeown came from Herrington to play for us. That’s about four or five miles away from Fulwell, the other side of the River Wear. Him and Michael were as thick as thieves when they were kids and both of them would join Sunderland and play for the successful youth teams there. We also had Kallum Griffiths, who went to Sunderland as well.
In 1999, Jordan was nine. That was the year we went the whole season unbeaten, 60 games or more. We scored 150-odd goals and Jordan, I think, must have had 25 or 30. Jordan and Michael were jointly awarded the league’s player of the year trophy. You couldn’t have separated them at that point. They did everything together. They were also different players. Michael was all left foot and he made the game look easy. He could win you matches in an instant. Jordan was different, of course, but his energy helped us win on many occasions as well. When opponents were tiring at the end of matches, Jordan tended to go up a few gears. They were mentally and physically tired, but he always seemed to have a bit more petrol in the engine.
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“My line manager said, ‘I see you’ve got your pension there’.”
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (28 appearances)
By Mark Chamberlain, his father and coach at Southampton
I was a footballer and played eight times for England. My career took me from Stoke to Sheffield and then to the south coast with Portsmouth, where the family settled. We didn’t live in the type of house where there was memorabilia all over the place and football photographs on the wall. Football was a central part of my life but I wanted my sons to follow their own interests. Alex is my first son of two. But he’s Alexander at home.
When he was really young, I was still playing. He was two when I signed for Exeter. For the next few years, I was away while he lived at home with his mum.
After retiring, I ran a soccer school in Portsmouth and that’s when Alexander started playing a bit more. He went to a private school called St John’s and the focus there was rugby union. There was also cricket and hockey. Alexander liked sport. He also played a lot of cricket and golf. But he never played Sunday league football. His experience at that point amounted to one or two games for his school team but mainly him having a kick about with me on a park field. I let him beat me all the time…
I became the under-11s coach at Southampton. I looked at the under-nines and remember thinking to myself, “Alexander is as good as these…” It was the early days of academy football and the standard wasn’t particularly high in the youngest age groups. So I arranged for him to come in on a trial. The environment suited him well. Expectations were different at Southampton during this period. Team results didn’t really matter. I worked there for nine years and the atmosphere between the coaches was really special. We just wanted the boys to enjoy themselves. Whatever they were good at, we encouraged them to do. We were never negative around them.
We ended up with some good players in Alexander’s team in the early days, but they kept losing and sometimes it was quite heavy. The boys were asked to make their own targets from game to game. Some would want to complete three nutmegs, others would want five shots. They were allowed to make mistakes and try new things – results really didn’t matter. Over time, they came to appreciate that the game of football is not just about the spectacular things you do. Getting the simple things right wins games.
We used to travel to training together, even though sessions started at different times. The under-11s tended to start before the under-nines. Alexander would hang around on the side of the pitch and I’d ask him to join in. The best player in my team was the centre-forward, so I’d ask Alexander to play at the back. He wasn’t particularly tall or strong but he was a competitor. I remember this centre-forward saying, “Can you take him off now?” He couldn’t get any change out of him. Alexander was so sharp and so bright that it didn’t matter that the lad was 18 months older than him. It was at that point where I started to think he was doing OK. Steve Wigley, my line manager, wandered over to me one day and pointed at Alexander: “I see you’ve got your pension there…”
I used to try to guide Alexander as much as I could but I wanted him to form his own impressions. As he got older and became a professional, I stepped back and let him know that I was always there if he needed me but he’s his own man now and he rarely asks! I don’t mind, though.
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“Sometimes he would watch the birds at the side of the pitch.”
Fabinho (27 appearances)
By Elio Sizenando, his coach at Paulinia FC in Sao Paulo, Brazil
There are two clubs in Campinas — Ponte Preta and Guarani — but no one was training the younger kids. This is the Sao Paulo region, where everyone is obsessed with football. Yet there was no structure behind that obsession.
We brought together a few coaches for a new project in Paulinia, thinking that we could improve the level of youth coaching in the area. We started watching youth tournaments in Campinas – futsal, seven-a-side – and selected 60 kids aged 12 and 13. That was when I saw Fabinho. He was born in 1993, but we brought him in with the 1992 intake.
I wasn’t Fabinho’s coach at first, but I watched him play every week. He was very good technically and carried out his role well. I started training him directly in 2006, when he was in the under-13s. I was with him at under-14 level, and again when he was 17.
Fabinho top row, second from left
At 16, he hardly played at all because he was a late developer. We were runners-up in the Campeonato Paulista, but he didn’t appear in a single game. He had always been a starter until that point. Always. I didn’t understand it, but that was the coach’s decision. I don’t think he was very happy about it. But he knew that he was a year younger than the other boys and that he’d get his chance the following year.
When he turned 17, he had his growth spurt and started to really stand out. That was when the scouts started to pay attention to him. It was a drastic change from one year to the next. He was one of my key players for the under-17s side in the first part of that season. I was under-20s coach that season as well, and it wasn’t long before I moved him up. He was playing in that team at 17 – three years early.
He was always a right-back in the lower age groups but I started using him in different positions: as a defensive midfielder, as a centre-back, as a left-back. It was born of necessity, but he was a very intelligent kid and really understood the game. He absorbed everything that we taught him. He played mostly in midfield at under-20s level, either just in front of the back four or a bit further forward. But it was as a right-back that he caught the eye at the Copa Sao Paulo in 2011. He was mature and confident and he pushed the team forward. He could put his foot on the ball and pick out a diagonal pass and he could shoot from range. I even let him take the free kicks because he struck the ball so well. Everyone fell in love with him at that tournament. That was when he introduced himself to the world.
He was always intelligent, but at 13 or 14 he didn’t have the same focus that he has today. Fabinho didn’t arrive at the project thinking he was going to be a football star. He was there to have a kick-around and to enjoy himself. He was a real joker, a cheeky kid who liked to mess around. On the pitch, he could be quite distracted. I always told my assistant, “Keep an eye on Fabinho”. He would fall asleep and we’d concede a goal from an attack down his flank. Sometimes he would watch the birds at the side of the pitch. We would laugh and say, “Stop staring at the birds, Fabinho!” You had to keep grabbing his attention. But at 16 or 17, he started to mature. That’s when he started to get that level of concentration.
He was a quiet kid, softly-spoken around adults. Fabinho wasn’t the kind of boy who would demand everyone’s attention; he was more modest. But he was a good talker, a good communicator among his peers, and very popular.
I always compared him to Maicon, who was doing really well for the Brazil national team at the time. He was a good decision-maker, was good in the air and struck the ball well. He was starting to get really strong. He could switch the play bloody well, and he was a good crosser. I would demand a lot from him: “You need to improve this, improve that.” I really bugged him, challenging him to get better. That’s why we have such a strong friendship, and why he speaks so fondly of me today. I really saw his potential at 17 and wanted to stretch him.
I spoke to him the other day. I asked him about his injury and when he’d be back playing. We mostly talk when he’s back in Brazil; he invites me to his house for dinner and we have a good chat.
I’ve been a coach for nearly 15 years. You always hope one of your kids can make it, but you know that it’s tough. He’s not someone who loves the spotlight. He doesn’t have tattoos and he doesn’t wear jewellery. He has a plain car. He just wants to play football. That’s what he likes.
In Brazil, we lose a lot of talent because kids don’t know how to deal with the fame and the money. Fabinho came from a modest background. His dad was a pastor, and he came from Dique, a neighbourhood on the outskirts of town. We had a lot of kids who got lifts to training from their parents, but Fabinho always arrived by bus. The respect he has for his mum and dad is obvious. It’s lovely to see.
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“He was cold-blooded and had a serenity about him.”
Alisson (27 appearances)
By Daniel Pavan, his goalkeeping coach at Internacional in Porto Alegre, Brazil
I first met Alisson when he was very small. This was before he joined Internacional’s youth set-up. He would come to training to accompany his older brother, Muriel. That was when he first started to really pay attention to football and the position of goalkeeper. His brother was his great inspiration.
Even from a young age, his technique was above average. But what really caught the eye was how quick a learner he was: he was able to assimilate everything he was taught. He was a good kid, with a marvellous family structure around him.
He was always a calm, cold-blooded goalkeeper. Even in tough moments, he had this serenity that allowed him to resolve situations in the quickest and best way possible. He had a very strong personality, even as a boy. He was able to marry technical qualities with coolness under pressure. The ability with the ball at his feet is the thing that has improved most during his time playing in Europe.
I remember that he almost stopped playing at 13. He had built up all the skills and foundations you need, but biology hadn’t kept up: for his age, he had not matured physically. That often meant that other goalkeepers – who were technically inferior, but bigger – were picked ahead of him. Size can make a difference at that age. He was quite disillusioned, and his parents thought about taking him away from football. But I spoke with them and was able to convince them that he should keep training and that he could yet have a bright future as a goalkeeper.
Alisson (far left) with Pavan (looking at the camera). Far right is former Brazil goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel
I speak with him whenever possible. We exchange messages on WhatsApp, and there is also a group with him, Muriel, Dida, and the goalkeepers who are currently at Inter. We’re always in contact. Alisson will always be an example to youngsters at this club, as a goalkeeper but also as a person. He really deserves it all, and he is capable of winning a lot more yet. He is aware that everything he achieves brings us great happiness.
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“He was flat-footed, so we helped him change the way he ran.”
Joe Gomez (26 appearances)
By Peter Lodge, his coach at Lewisham Youth FC, London
I’d worked with Kasey Palmer (a future Chelsea academy star and England Under-21 international) from the age of around five and Joe was one of his best friends. One day, Joe came along with him to Charlton Athletic’s development centre in Lewisham. He had just turned eight. I looked after the under-sevens and under-eights for Charlton and ran Lewisham Youth as secretary and coach.
Kasey, who is now at Bristol City, was an exceptional talent. He stood out more because he was so good technically. Joe had potential but he was a slow-burner, a late developer. He always wanted the ball. He was full of passion and desire. He didn’t like people getting past him.
We used to train in an indoor sports hall. Joe used to run on his heels and you could always hear him flapping around! It sounds harsh, but he was flat-footed. The coaches who came into assist me could see the problem too as they stood and listened.
We decided not to sign Joe to Charlton at under-nines. We decided it would be better for him to spend the following season playing for Lewisham Youth instead. It was a very talented (Charlton) squad and we feared that if we put Joe in at that stage, he would have got lost in the system. He wouldn’t have got much game time. The decision was taken to develop him away from the glare of academy football.
He was always a strong kid but athletically he couldn’t get around the pitch quickly enough. We worked hard with Joe on his speed and agility and making changes to how he ran.
Joe was such a great kid. He embraced it 100 per cent. He trusted me. He was like a sponge, taking advice and information on board. He knew he had a big challenge in front of him but he was fully committed to it. He always wanted to get more out of himself.
We never had an ounce of trouble from Joe. He was so dedicated. He was never distracted by anything outside of football. His dad, Gus, was a massive influence and a great role model with tremendous family values.
Some kids are better receiving the ball with their back to goal. But Joe always preferred having the game in front of him. That’s why, right from a very young age, he looked likely to be a defender.
After a season playing for Lewisham Youth, we felt he was ready to take the next step and he joined Charlton Under-10s. Talented midfielders and forwards tend to stand out more. As a young defender, it’s more difficult to grab the limelight. But Joe got better and better and by the time he was 17 he was playing for Charlton’s first team.
I’m still involved at Lewisham Youth in the background and I’m back working at Charlton’s academy. I always mention Joe’s rise to the kids.
I’m still in touch with him. The year before last, we brought a group up to do the stadium tour at Anfield. I got my picture taken in front of Joe’s shirt in the dressing room.
I sent him the photo and joked that I was going to nick the shirt. He sent me one back saying, “Don’t do that, I’ll send you one!” I left it where it was!
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“I played against him in training because it was too easy against the other kids.”
Divock Origi (26 appearances)
By Michel Ribeiro, technical director at Genk, Belgium
I first worked with Divock when he was nine years old. He had started out at a junior club called Zwaluw Diepenbeek and then moved on to Park Houthalen, close to Genk, which is where we scouted him.
The first thing that struck me was how tall he was for his age but he was also very comfortable with the ball at his feet. He had great technical ability. It was clear that he had a really good base for us to work with and develop.
Divock was always a hard-working, friendly and humble kid. As a coach you couldn’t ask for any more from him. He never caused a problem for anyone.
It helped that he had his dad Mike, who played for Genk, to guide him away from the training ground. There were never any occasions when Divock stepped out of line. He was always so committed to making it as a professional.
At Genk, we always play young players in a number of different positions rather than pinning them down to just one. It was clear early on that Divock would be an attacker so we never played him at the back. He had such good feet. He led the line as a No 9, he played out on the wing and he played centrally a bit deeper sometimes.
I think that stood him in good stead because at Liverpool and for Belgium he has been used out on the left at times.
As the technical coach, I used to give Divock a lot of homework. I wanted him to work on his mobility. When kids are tall like that you need to ensure that they don’t just rely on how big they are. You have to work on their technique and their movement.
When he started having it too easy in the one-v-one at the age of 12 or 13, I made things a bit harder for him. I put myself as the defender and used my body to make things more difficult. It was about working with him to try to ensure he had the full package and not just relying on the physical side. We would work a lot on his quick turns and the need to have fast feet.
By the age of 12 we were playing him a year above his age group. That wasn’t just because of his size, he deserved it. He was too good to stay in his own group. We needed to challenge him more. At the age of 14 he was playing two years above in the under-16s. He wouldn’t always play the whole game, we would carefully manage his minutes. We didn’t move too fast with him.
We played in a youth tournament against Schalke and a number of English teams, including Liverpool, and Divock played so well. We tried to do everything we could to keep him. But by the age of 15 he had attracted interest from a lot of clubs in England, Spain and France. In the end he and his family made the decision to move to Lille.
When a young player is in such demand like that they can start acting like a superstar. But Divock was never like that. He didn’t change. We lost him in one sense but the relationship remained strong. We parted on good terms. There were no bad words exchanged.
We still keep in contact and when I talk with him on the phone it’s clear that Divock still hasn’t changed.
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“Other teams complained he shouldn’t be allowed to play.”
James Milner (20 appearances)
By Jim Ryan, his coach at Westbrook Juniors, Leeds
I was a school teacher but I was also coaching a team called Westbrook Juniors in Horsforth, Leeds. We had an under-12s team and I remember this little lad being brought along by his mum. He was two years younger than all the other lads and he looked far too frail and fragile to be playing with the bigger boys. I was concerned he would get hurt.
But we let him join in and he really could handle himself. He could hold his own. He was very gifted, very fast, great coordination and, although he was small, he was quite strong physically. He could evade tackles and, even if he went down, got straight back up again. He always wanted to be involved in every aspect of the game and — this won’t surprise you — he would be up and down, up and down, covering the whole pitch.
Even playing among boys who were two years older, he stood out. It ended up with some of the other teams’ managers complaining to the league secretary that James was too young and shouldn’t be allowed to play. I think what really bothered them was that he was such a good player. The league didn’t enforce that, fortunately. We won the league that year and he was the difference. I remember saying, “Mark my words. That lad will play for England.” It was slightly tongue-in-cheek at the time, but I think we all knew he was very very gifted.
Milner (bottom row, with the ball)
But that was the only year he played for us because the following season his dad informed us that he was going to be joining Leeds United’s academy. I remember his dad telling me there was only one other player in his age group who was as good as James — and that was a lad called Rooney at Everton. And by the age of 16, James was playing in the Premier League for Leeds.
I think James is the perfect example for young players. He’s not into flash things or drinking or nightlife. You hear of players who play a few games and they think they’ve made it. James has always kept focused. I know he has this reputation for being boring or whatever, but I think that’s something he has cultivated. He has got a great sense of humour.
It’s been great to watch him progress, playing for England, playing for Liverpool, but I can’t take any credit for it at all. I added nothing to his game. I was just privileged to see him develop.
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“I used to say to him, ‘If you want to be like Deco, you have to be braver’.”
Naby Keita (16 appearances)
By Alya Soumah, his coach at FC Alya de Dixinn, Guinea
Every morning I would cycle to Naby’s house just before seven and ask his mum’s permission to take him to training. He would sit on the back of my bike and off we went to the stadium, three or four kilometres away. He was eight years old.
There wasn’t a president of the club. We didn’t have much equipment so I had to buy everything, balls, cones, the lot. I sometimes asked the children to see if their parents could lend the team some money.
Naby’s family couldn’t afford much either. His mum used to sell a dish called akyeke, made from grated cassava, usually served with fried fish and ground pepper, to feed the family. He sometimes ate at mine but his mum didn’t want him to live with us.
I took Naby under my wing. I bought his kit. He was like a son to me. The other players used to say that I loved him more than everyone else but they didn’t know all that I was doing for Naby.
Keita, second boy from left in the back row
He scored some incredible goals. With his small stature, he could go round one, two, three players, even past the goalkeeper. We nicknamed him “Deco” after the Barcelona player.
If someone hurt him though he would start crying straight away. He didn’t like contact that much. I used to say to him, “If you want to be like Deco, you have to be braver. Football is difficult.” I told him that it would be a real shame if he didn’t use his talent. He said he wasn’t going to give up, professional football was his dream. He would do anything for football.
I still speak to him often, once or twice a month. He has bought me a television and a motorbike and a car. I’m always there for him, like a father. I give him some advice. I tell him he can be like Lionel Messi.
