• League Cup

Will Rossiter be the real deal at Liverpool?

David Usher | ESPN FC
September 25, 2014
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For a while there it looked like 17-year-old Jordan Rossiter was going to be the big headline-maker from Liverpool's League Cup victory over Middlesbrough on Tuesday night. Then Raheem Sterling and Kolo Toure conspired to alter the narrative by gifting 'Boro a last-gasp equaliser to set up one of the craziest penalty shootouts ever seen on these shores. Understandably, the completely bonkers 14-13 final scoreline dominated most of the next day's headlines, and while Rossiter's goal wasn't exactly forgotten, it didn't quite get the exposure you'd normally expect.

That may not be a bad thing if it helps to keep some of the spotlight off the promising teen, who marked his first senior appearance with a well-taken 10th-minute finish and a polished performance before being replaced late on by another teenager, Jordan Williams. I'm sure the Anfield hierarchy will be more than happy for the media to be focussing on the penalty shootout rather than hyping up the young midfielder, while the lad himself won't be worrying about any of that as he'll still be on cloud nine after his dream debut. He scored, Liverpool won; what more could a 17-year-old Kopite want?

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We probably shouldn't have been too surprised he got himself on the scoresheet, as it's far from unusual for Academy graduates to mark their debuts with a goal. It's a well-worn path he is treading, as Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and even Andre Wisdom and Jamie Carragher managed to find the net on either their debut or on their first full start. Going back further you can add Sammy Lee and Ronnie Whelan to the list, and if Rossiter is even half as successful as some of those illustrious names, he'll have enjoyed a fine career indeed. There are no guarantees, though: Leyton Maxwell scored in a League Cup tie against Hull City at Anfield 15 years ago but was never seen or heard from again.

It may seem strange to say, but even at 17 this debut felt like it had been a long time coming. Rossiter has been in and around the squad for a while and was an unused substitute at Chelsea and at home to Hull City. Clearly manager Brendan Rodgers has high hopes for him, and it's easy to see why.

Of all the young players coming through the system at Liverpool, Rossiter appears to be the one causing the most excitement. Both Carragher and Fowler have talked him up publicly -- not something either tend to do lightly with young players. He was playing under-19 football in the NextGen tournament when he was just 15 years old and was a regular in the under-18 side too despite being three years younger than many of his teammates.

Jordan Rossiter's debut goal was overshadowed by Liverpool's wild penalty shootout win over Middlesbrough © Getty Images
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At 16 years of age he was fast-tracked to the under-21s where he has regularly been the side's most consistent performer, either playing in the "Steven Gerrard position" or occasionally in the same kind of role Jordan Henderson fills in the first-team set-up. He's been a regular (though not prolific) goal scorer at under-21 level too, and it's his all-round ability that marks him out as special. He does most things you need from a midfielder to a good standard. He's far from being flashy, and although he can be more adventurous and expressive than he was in the Middlesbrough game, that is the kind of staple performance you can expect from him week in, week out. He keeps it simple, rarely makes bad decisions and plays with a maturity beyond his years.

He appears to have the world at his feet, but the hard work is still ahead of him. Making your debut is only the start, and for so many players proves to be as high as they get on the ladder. The challenge for Rossiter - and Rodgers, for that matter - is to ensure that this is merely the beginning of a long career at Anfield.

Jordan has made the perfect start to first-team life but he clearly has a long way to go. He is only 17 after all, and he barely even looks that. Some boys are fully developed at that age, but Rossiter clearly still has some growing to do. There are some similarities with Gerrard in that respect; if you saw Gerrard play at 16 you could never have predicted he'd become the physical specimen he did. He was small and skinny.

Obviously other comparisons with Gerrard are going to be made too. He's a local lad with a fresh face and a scaly haircut, he loves a tackle, he grew up watching games from the Kop and he's a midfielder. That's where any comparison should stop, though, as Gerrard is arguably the club's greatest ever player and it's unlikely that Liverpool will ever produce anyone better.

John Welsh was once hailed as "the next Steven Gerrard" but understandably failed to live up to such a lofty billing. I saw a lot of Welsh when he was coming through the academy sides and he was incredible as a youngster. He was brilliant, he'd dominate games against much older opponents, and from the ages of 15-18, Welsh looked every bit as good as Gerrard had when he was coming through. As with so many talented schoolboys, eventually his development levelled off and others overtook him.

That's why it's so dangerous to build young players up too much. There may be very few 17-year-olds in English football right now who are better than Rossiter, but that doesn't mean the same will be true when he is 20. There are no guarantees, and the next three or four years will decide whether Rossiter will be good enough to hold down a regular place at Anfield, or whether he will just fall short, like Jonjo Shelvey for example. Rossiter doesn't need to be the new Steven Gerrard; the new Steve McMahon would do nicely!

Whatever the future holds for him, though, he'll always have the memories of that crazy night against 'Boro when he scored on his debut. Take a bow, son, you deserve it.

This article originally appeared on ESPN FC

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