20 Jun 2019 09:02:07
Mornin Eds.
Reading conflicting reports of Rafa Camacho supposedly off to either Schalke or Sporting, any chance Ed002 or anyone knows what's really happening and can clear this up?

Thanks very much and have a great day.

{Ed002's Note - Rafael Camacho (AM) Sporting still want a loan to buy deal but will have an influx of money which will allow them to commit to buying. Interest of Benfica has probably gone as they were looking to a loan with an option to buy. Wolves are interested and have been for sometime. Schalke have been in discussions with Liverpool recently and are interested in buying the player outright.}


1.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 11:00:01
Wow great thanks a mil Ed002!

{Ed002's Note - You are welcome.}


2.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 11:02:47
Thanks Ed! I am assuming, given the contract situation, we would do a loan to buy?

Do you think he has the qualities to of been given a chance at some point? Whenever I have seen him he has been decent enough but difficult to judge given his lack of experience!

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool want to sell him. He has been told he will get chances and that was untrue - he has also said when he did play it was out of position. This is the growing problem the Premier League clubs are seeing - the kids want immediate first team game time and those who have been promised chances (which we know Klopp does) then get miffed and want to move on. A month or so ago I was with the Sporting Director (and very high end scout) of a German side and he was in London looking at kids from Arsenal, Fulham and Chelsea and he was explaining that German sides are going to be pushing to look to signing kids from England as they offer realistic routes in to the top-level game. So lots of sides from Germany are looking.}


3.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 12:05:22
It must be difficult for young players to be promised stuff like that for it to just be a lie!

I do think we should be giving more opportunities when maybe we are comfortable in a game to maybe let players like Camacho have 10/ 15mins of experience.

I just don’t get why managers don’t do that more often, and would of assumed Klopp would be someone of that ilk, do you think the pressure of being at Liverpool has led him to be less youth driven? I know at Dortmund he was really good at nurturing youth.

I believe the same thing Ed, it is an interesting approach by German clubs and one that we have seen is fruitful, we as a country of academy’s produce quite a lot of decent players but as you say we don’t ever offer as much exposure as German clubs.

What would be your approach to youth at Liverpool so that we are still offering a route to the first team and exposure that makes us seem an attractive club for your players and their development?

{Ed002's Note - Liverpool are doing better than they used to but it is not structured or managed well still.}


4.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 13:00:38
I suppose the difficulty managers have is that they may fully intend giving young players some time on the pitch but then that gets pushed aside once a certain group of players starts doing well. I doubt any Liverpool supporter - sad but true - wanted to see Camacho replace any of our players in the first team last season given we were pushing so hard for the league and CL. If he was playing out of his skin in training and the U21s then maybe he'd have got more chances but do we know if that was the case? Probably not.

{Ed002's Note - The answer is don't make promises or kowtow to players.}


5.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 16:18:02
Agreed Ed, if that filters through the youth teams of broken promises that’s going to have a negative impact on the rest of them.


6.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 16:42:15
Half the problem is expectancy of fans. If a young player doesn't hit the ground running or isn't Neymar then there's howls of "he's crap, get rid, spend £60 million on a suitable replacement". And this coming from fans who playing wise aren't fit to kiss the studs of the young players they're busy slagging off.
Unfortunately the sheer majority of fans these days have no idea at all of what it's like for players trying to climb through the ranks and stake their claim for a spot in the team/ squad.


7.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 17:21:37
I think the problem (albeit a good problem) is that we're now at a standard 1 point behind an excellent Man City team and European Champions.

If we were still finishing 7th, like when Klopp took over, had an injury to our right sided attacker/ winger, and Shaqiri's signing just didn't work out, the likes of Camacho may have been given a chance.

The stakes are higher now that the level of quality in the squad is much higher and our attackers have been pretty much injury free.

It's different trying to break into the first team for an upper mid-table side than it is to break into a serial European finalists and title challengers side.


8.) 20 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 22:10:57
Personally I'd say if the youth players were actually good enough to displace the starting 11 and were leaving we would have a problem.


9.) 21 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 00:51:18
Not sure what the answer is in the PL, but it seems the way to get above the opposition, you can't do it with the kids, unless they are exceptional, players like Trent for instance! Aren't the younger players happy enough to go on decent loans, with a clause that says they have to play a certain amount of games, like I believe we have done? Camacho for one, he had to understand who was in front of him to play in his favoured place! Maybe we didn't go as far as we had hoped in the domestic cups or these fringe players might have played more, who knows!


10.) 21 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 00:52:03
I guess it could partly be because the premier league is so competitive. There really no stroll in the park games like in Germany or Spain (sides that would struggle to stay in the championship) to blood youth into the side. Domestic cup runs are another matter both but we did terribly in both.


11.) 21 Jun 2019
20 Jun 2019 23:45:43
@johnnyr1970: Camacho was top scorer for the U23s and one of the stars this season. It's simply a lack of patience. He's only 18 but could realistically have envisioned overtaking Shaqiri next season and maybe even replacing Salah when he leaves in a year or two. He's a good young player but not developed enough yet to be a consistent first teamer. Like Ed002 keeps saying, it's a problem that many clubs are having with youth players and the reason German clubs are quite cleverly fishing around in England. Best case scenario probably a good offer from Schalke for example with a buy-back clause if possible.


12.) 21 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 03:56:48
interesting ed002, i had to google and didn't realise kowtow's accepted use in english language.

learn something new everyday i suppose.

{Ed002's Note - I see it as a social service to try and teach the Liverpool supporters a farrago of new words every day.}


13.) 21 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 12:59:37
ed002 would you say apart from the big 2 teams most leagues have got. Would you say the premier league is the easiest league to get sacked. Bringing more pressure to managers here making it harder to blood youth players unless they are all ready top class. Its like they need to be at the same standard as full Internationals as soon as they get in the teams. What does not help as well is the value young british players have on them ryan sessegnon springs to mind with the £50m they rated him at before he had even played in the top flight. And with Youth players some are so much more developed than others and it makes them look so much better than until they play against men and they lose that advantage.

{Ed002's Note - I don't really get the question but the answer would be no if you think more coaches get sacked in the PL than elsewhere - take last season - the Bundesliga, Serie A, Ligue 1 and La Liga all saw more coaches sacked than the PL.}


14.) 21 Jun 2019
21 Jun 2019 14:34:30
yes ed002 that was the point I thought more coaches got sacked here. So I was just think they don't have the time to blood young players in. And with are league being the most competitive I does make it harder. Was it a good year for are managers last season though ed can't remember to many getting the chop. I think Fulham got rid of 2 not sure about Huddersfield did there manager walk then there was Southampton, utd and Leicester but that seems quite low for normal.

{Ed002's Note - The Spanish and Italian sides are rather less forgiving than the PL sides. It is unrelated to playing kids.}