Liverpool academy coach says something ‘brilliant’ happened with 19-year-old Reds prospect this weekend

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Liverpool have seen their academy have one of its best ever seasons in terms of producing players for the first-team.

With the likes of Jarell Quansah and Conor Bradley leading the charge, Liverpool’s youth teams have never felt so productive.

One player who had previously looked set for a potential first-team future was Isaac Mabaya. The 19-year-old impressed in pre-season ahead of the 2022/23 campaign and seemed likely to get chances in the senior team.

However, things have not gone as planned for Mabaya. Since summer 2022, the young right-back has struggled with fitness issues. He has not kicked on. However, speaking to liverpoolfc.com this weekend, Liverpool U21s coach Barry Lewtas reported that Mabaya is now fit again, having returned in a 2-0 win over Manchester City on Sunday.

“It’s obviously a positive for him,” says Lewtas. “He’s had his injury issues and he’s been training for a while now. We just want to make sure that we’re giving him the right opportunity to get back playing, finish the season with us, but obviously really kick-start into next season as well.

“It was brilliant to get him on and we put him on in a really important part of the game as well. He’ll be over the moon.”

Mabaya makes his return

It had been September since Mabaya was last out on the pitch for Liverpool. In first-team terms, he’s been out for the same amount of time as Stefan Bajcetic.

The parallels with Bajcetic are interesting to note. Both came into the first-team picture during that same summer, at the start of last season.

Just a month separates the pair’s birth dates, and after doing well out on tour, Mabaya and Bajcetic were retained to train with the first-team.

In the almost two years since then though, things have gone in different directions for the youngsters.

While Bajcetic made his breakthrough to senior football and announced himself as one of Europe’s most exciting talents, Mabaya didn’t get his chance.

Both have obviously struggled for fitness over the last year, but the difference is that when Bajcetic comes back, he’ll do so as a full-fledged member of Jurgen Klopp’s squad.

Mabaya meanwhile is now well below Bradley in the pecking order at right-back and feels very unlikely to get his opportunity under Klopp.

Nevertheless, Sunday is still worth celebrating for Mabaya. If he can kick on between now and the summer, maybe he can make another step up for next summer. Welcome back, Isaac!