Homegrown Reds: What Happened Next

Jack Robinson

LFC Appearances: 11
Current Club: Sheffield United FC

Jack Robinson was the first 16-year-old to make a first-team appearance for Liverpool FC. The Warrington-born defender made his Reds' debut in Rafa Benitez's final game as LFC boss – a 0-0 draw at Hull City FC in May 2010 – aged 16 years and 250 days old. Robinson has since lost the record of being the Club's youngest player to Jerome Sinclair, but is now back in the Premier League following a move to Sheffield United FC during the January 2020 transfer window. The 26-year-old left Liverpool FC for Queens Park Rangers FC in 2014, but made just 39 appearances for the Rs due to injury. He signed for Nottingham Forest FC in 2018 and became a key player at the City Ground, operating at centre-half instead of his more familiar position of left-back, and even captaining the side. His form there earned him a move to Bramall Lane although Robinson hadn't made his Blades debut before the season was suspended due to the coronavirus outbreak.  

Jon Flanagan

LFC Appearances: 51
Current Club: Rangers FC

Tough-tackling right-back Flanagan grew up on Utting Avenue in Liverpool, which is so close to Anfield that he admitted: “when a goal went in, you could hear the roar of the crowd from the back garden.” He was only 18 when handed his LFC debut by Sir Kenny Dalglish in a 3-0 win against Manchester City FC in 2011, but Flanagan's true breakthrough season came under Brendan Rodgers in 2013/14. Playing at left-back, he made 25 of his 51 appearances for the Reds that season and scored his only goal for Liverpool FC during a 5-0 win against Tottenham Hotspur FC at White Hart Lane. He also won a solitary England cap. A serious knee injury meant he missed the whole of 2014/15 and although he made nine appearances under Jürgen Klopp – including captaining Liverpool FC at Southampton FC in 2016 – 'Flanno' was released in 2018 after a loan spell at Burnley FC. He signed for Rangers FC that summer and has since made 39 appearances for Steven Gerrard's side.

Tom Ince

LFC Appearances: 1
Current Club: Stoke City FC

When Tom Ince made his Liverpool FC debut in 2010 he became the first son of an ex-LFC player to also make a first-team appearance since Dean Saunders – son of 1950s wing-half Roy Saunders – did so in 1991. His father Paul Ince captained the Reds for two seasons between 1997 and 1999, making 81 appearances in total, but winger Tom's Liverpool FC career lasted for just the final 14 minutes of a League Cup defeat to Northampton Town FC on penalties at Anfield. After a loan spell at Notts County FC, who were managed by his dad, Ince signed for Blackpool FC in 2011 and scored 33 goals in 113 games. His goalscoring ratio was similar while at Derby County FC from 2015 to 2017, striking 38 times in 114 matches, before he spent a season in the Premier League with Huddersfield Town FC – playing against the Reds in a 3-0 defeat at Anfield. In July 2018, Stoke City FC paid a reported £10 million to sign Ince to replace Xherdan Shaqiri following their relegation to The Championship. The 28-year-old has netted eight goals in 75 appearances for the Potters so far.

Conor Coady

LFC Appearances: 2
Current Club: Wolverhampton Wanderers FC

Wolverhampton Wanderers FC captain Conor Coady has now skippered the men in old gold six times against Liverpool FC and admits it is something he is immensely proud of. “To captain this club against Liverpool in the Premier League really is a dream come true,” he said. “For me personally, it's very special having come through at Liverpool. I still follow their results and watch their games when I can.” The former LFC U18 and U21s captain made two first-team appearances for the Reds under Brendan Rodgers before moving to Molineux in 2015 via a season at Huddersfield Town FC. He may now be a rival, but admires the work Jürgen Klopp has done at Anfield. “Jürgen Klopp has done a fantastic job. They have got a great squad and that's been shown by the way they're playing. I know how big Liverpool Football Club is and now they're back competing at the top.”

Brad Smith

LFC Appearances: 11
Current Club: Cardiff City FC

A total of eight players called Smith have played for Liverpool FC and Australian left-back Brad Smith is the most recent. Born in Penrith, his family moved to the UK when Smith was 14 and he joined the LFC Academy after being spotted playing football for Woolston High School – the same school that Jack Robinson went to. Promoted to the first-team squad in December 2013 after missing a year through injury, he made his debut in a Premier League game at Chelsea FC that same month. After a prolonged contractual issue that ruled him out of the 2014/15 season was resolved, Jürgen Klopp selected Smith 10 times in 2015/16 and he scored his first Liverpool FC goal, netting the equaliser in a 2-2 FA Cup 3rd round draw at Exeter City FC. However, after getting sent off at Swansea City FC later that year he moved on to AFC Bournemouth and has spent the last three seasons out on loan. A Cardiff City FC player since January 2020, Smith spent two seasons in Major League Soccer at Seattle Sounders FC where, in 2019, he became the first Australian to win the MLS Cup trophy.

Jordan Rossiter

LFC Appearances: 5
Current Club: Fleetwood Town FC (on loan)

Former Liverpool FC U18s captain Jordan Rossiter became the second youngest goalscorer in Club history when netting on his debut against Middlesbrough FC in the League Cup at Anfield in 2014. The Scouse central midfielder was 17 years, five months and 30 days old at the time and it proved to be the highlight of his Liverpool FC career. After making his Premier League debut and three UEFA Europa League appearances in 2015/16, Rossiter signed for Rangers FC in the summer of 2016. A succession of injuries has since disrupted his career, but he could yet go down in history as the last ever goalscorer for Bury FC. Rossiter scored the Shakers' final goal of last season against Port Vale FC while on loan at Gigg Lane and Bury FC haven't played since after being expelled from the Football League for financial issues. The 22-year-old joined Fleetwood Town FC on loan in the summer of 2019, but suffered a season-ending ACL knee injury in November. With Rossiter's Rangers FC contract ending in June he now faces an uncertain future, although Gers boss Steven Gerrard has promised to give his former LFC team-mate “the support he needs.”

Cameron Brannagan

LFC Appearances: 9
Current Club: Oxford United FC

Manchester born and Salford raised, boyhood Manchester United FC fan Cameron Brannagan spent time with United's Academy and at Manchester City FC before opting to join the Liverpool FC Academy at the age of nine. A regular for Liverpool FC U21s, his first Anfield appearance came in the 2015 All-Star charity match when he came on as a substitute for the Jamie Carragher XI. Attacking midfielder Brannagan's first-team debut followed against FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the UEFA Europa League that year and on the final day of the 2015/16 campaign he started his first Premier League game in a 1-1 draw at West Bromwich Albion FC. That was Brannagan's ninth and final appearance for LFC and, after a loan spell with Fleetwood Town FC, he signed for Oxford United FC in January 2018. The 23-year-old has now made over 100 appearances for the Us and has been linked with a moved to Leeds United FC when the transfer window reopens.

Connor Randall

LFC Appearances: 8
Current Club: PFC Arda 1924 Khardzali

Maghull-born right-back Connor Randall joined the Liverpool FC Academy when he was eight. Twelve years later, in 2015, he was handed his first-team debut by Jürgen Klopp in a 1-0 League Cup win against AFC Bournemouth at Anfield. It was one of eight appearances he made for the Reds, but with fellow Academy graduate Trent Alexander-Arnold emerging it soon became clear that Randall would have to look elsewhere to play football. He spent 2017/18 on loan in Scotland with Heart of Midlothian FC and, after a loan spell with Rochdale AFC was cut short due to a fractured cheekbone, was released by the Reds in 2019. Randall then made a surprise move to newly-promoted Bulgarian First Professional Football League club PFC Arda 1924 Khardzali. The Blue Wolves – based in the eastern Bulgarian town of Khardzali – are in Bulgaria's top-flight for the first time. Randall has made 11 appearances for Arda this season, but may now have to look for a new club due to a limit on the number of non-EU players in Bulgarian football.

Joe Maguire

LFC Appearances: 1
Current Club: Accrington Stanley FC

Just like his fellow Mancunian Cameron Brannagan, full-back Joe Maguire joined the Liverpool FC Academy at the age of nine and played at Anfield for the first time in the 2015 All-Star charity match. His first-team debut also came in 2015/16, as a 77th minute substitute in the 2-2 FA Cup 3rd round draw at Exeter City FC, but they were the only minutes Maguire got in a red shirt. After playing once on loan at Leyton Orient FC he signed for Fleetwood Town FC in January 2017, making 12 appearances for the Cod Army. Maguire spent 2018/19 on loan with Crawley Town FC, scoring his first goal in professional football against Newport County FC, before signing for Accrington Stanley FC in July 2019. He's so far made 13 appearances for Jon Coleman's side.

Ryan Kent

LFC Appearances: 1
Current Club: Rangers FC

Whatever Ryan Kent achieves during the rest of his career, his place in Rangers FC folklore is already secured after he opened the scoring in a 2-1 win at Celtic FC in December. It was the first time the Gers had won at Celtic Park in nine years and, under the management of Steven Gerrard, the winger is flourishing in Scotland following his summer move to Ibrox from Liverpool FC. After also spending last season on loan in Glasgow, Kent now has 14 goals to his name for Rangers FC in 75 appearances. The Oldham-born 23-year-old joined the Liverpool FC Academy in 2003 when he was just seven and although Kent played in numerous pre-season tour matches between 2015 and 2019, his only first-team appearance for the Reds came in the 2-2 FA Cup 3rd round draw at Exeter City FC in 2016. Before signing for Rangers FC, Kent was previously loaned out to Coventry City FC, Barnsley FC, SC Freiburg and Bristol City FC, scoring four times in 81 games for those clubs.