Barry Lewtas makes ‘unbelievable’ admission as Federico Chiesa joins Liverpool U21 training
Liverpool U21 boss Barry Lewtas has shared the importance of his side interacting with the first team as Federico Chiesa joined the youth players in training.
The Italian signed from Juventus in the final days of the summer transfer window and has used his omission from the national side to work on regaining his fitness for the Reds.
Lewtas brought his squad to the senior side of the AXA Training Centre, and revealed in an interview with the club’s official website [6 September] the impact of the experienced attacker on his youth players.
“We’ve been coming round here for a while and the first-team players, their level of professionalism is unbelievable, it really is.
“Obviously you can see from the quality of [Chiesa’s] career so far, this is why he’s at one of the best clubs in the world. His professionalism and his quality was really good.
“It obviously just gives our boys a little bit of a chance to play against someone of that quality [and] it’s a really good learning opportunity for them.
“I think any time when we come round to the first-team side, which we do a lot, is always really good. It’s a change of scenery but also more importantly gets us around first-team players and first-team staff, which is important for the boys.”
Barry Lewtas shows Liverpool youth stars path to the first team
The AXA Training Centre enjoyed the limelight last season as Jayden Danns, James McConnell and Bobby Clark became first-team regulars for Jurgen Klopp and helped the German to his final trophy as Anfield boss in the Carabao Cup.
Now, seven months after the League Cup triumph, sporting director Richard Hughes has dispatched several key youth stars over the summer, both on loan and permanent sales. Most notably, Clark rejoined former assistant manager Pep Lijnders at RB Salzburg.
The Reds have also strengthened the youth side as 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha arrived from Chelsea and has already found himself rubbing shoulders with the U21 side.
Lewtas has been helpless as several players considered key for his side this season departed the club but he has gotten his side back on track after a barren spell with a 3-2 win against Sunderland in the Premier League 2.
His focus is solely on the development of those at his disposal and seeing the talent of a player such as Chiesa first-hand is vital to that progress and shows his youth players exactly what it takes to rise through the Liverpool ranks.
The young Reds have seen their teammates handed first-team berths and they must start collecting wins for Lewtas if they are to follow the same path and line up alongside Chiesa and Co.
In other Liverpool news, Dan Bardell has had his say on the Anfield future of Mohamed Salah.
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