• Europa League

Liverpool to fast-track German starlet for Europa clash

Samed Yesil, 18, was plucked from Bayer Leverkusen last month © Getty Images

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Germany youth international Samed Yesil could be thrust into the Liverpool first team ahead of schedule for Thursday's Europa League clash with Young Boys in Switzerland.

Yesil, 18, was plucked from Bayer Leverkusen last month for a fee believed to be in the region of £1 million and was expected to be a development player.

But with Liverpool short of striking options following the departures of Andy Caroll and Dirk Kuyt over the summer, manager Brendan Rodgers could choose to rotate his squad and give Yesil his bow.

He shone for Germany Under-19s against England earlier this month, and Rodgers was in the crowd to check on his progress.

"Yesil will certainly be fast-tracked,'' the manager told the Liverpool Echo. "He will be involved in the Europa League game. I watched him play against England Under-19s during the international break and he scored two terrific goals and set up another.

"The biggest thing for young players now is that the introduction of Raheem [Sterling] has given even the seven and eight-year olds the one thing in life you want - hope. Every young academy player, every parent or guardian, has got hope that a young player will play at Liverpool.

"I saw it last week after moving a lot of the young players up to Melwood with it being international week. You could see it in their attitude. They had a spring in their step.

"They feel that they have got a chance, and they will get that. There is nothing better than when you see a young kid come through. There will be that chance for Yesil and one or two other boys over this period of months now.''

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