Jurgen Klopp gave Calvin Ramsay his Liverpool debut against Napoli last night and more than doubled a Bill Shankly stat in the process. The German has a plan.
Calvin Ramsay came off the bench against Napoli at Anfield on Tuesday night for his Liverpool debut. Jurgen Klopp finally saw an opportunity to get him on the pitch and we were impressed.
Ramsay only played a few minutes but looked confident on the ball. In fact, he fit right in down his flank, mixing passes with Harvey Elliott and Mohamed Salah.
And as Opta’s Michael Reid points out, Ramsay is the 39th teenager to debut under Klopp. That doesn’t just set a new record but means the German more than doubles second-place Bill Shankly. The Scot handed 19 teenagers their debuts while he was Liverpool’s boss.
Jurgen Klopp gives Calvin Ramsay his debut
Klopp certainly doesn’t back down from handing debuts to teenagers. In fact, Ramsay wasn’t even the only teenager to come off the bench last night – both Elliott and Stefan Bajcetic did the same.
Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones both started the game, too – players who got their debuts under Klopp as teenagers. It’s very much a theme.
Now, the figure of 39 is inflated slightly by one game against Aston Villa in 2019. Liverpool had games on back-to-back days and with the first-team playing at the Club World Cup, a youth side full of debutants featured in the EFL Cup.
Even without that, though, Klopp holds the record at Liverpool. His desire to bring players through is fantastic and has already paid dividends in many ways. We’re expecting it’s the next few years, though, where we really see the benefits.
Elliott will certainly hold down a place for a very long time – no doubt there. Both Bajcetic and Ramsay appear to have the talent to do so, too. Then there are players in the academy who standout as future debutants.
That future is very bright and Klopp is a massive reason why.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
