Under Roy Evans, Liverpool produced some of the greatest players in the club’s history, many of whom also grew up at Liverpool.
Evans became manager full-time in 1994 after nearly 30 years with the club and held the job for almost five years, winning the League Cup and ending Liverpool’s legendary boot room era.
Although he won only one trophy as a manager, his teams are still fondly remembered for their fluid, attacking football.
But perhaps his greatest achievement was the remarkable development of young players coming out of the academy under his watch.
Evans has overseen the growth and development of young players including Steve McManaman, Jamie Carragher and Michael Owen, drawing on his experience at youth level.
Robbie Fowler’s continued integration and rise under Evans defined the era, and in Fowler’s speech: mural In a statement released in March, Evans outlined how he plans to recruit young players to the first team.
A former boss once said, “You do different things for different people.” This is Anfield.
“Of course, some people have different ideas, so you have to think about what you can do for them based on the players’ mentality. Of course, the team is the most important.”
Arne Slot has been fortunate to inherit a number of young players from Jurgen Klopp, many of whom already have League Cup winners’ medals.
Evans is impressed with the talent coming out of the squad. “I don’t see a lot of training sessions these days,” he said. “In a way, I’d like to see (the next generation) out there.
“But I think it’s always good to have younger players and players who know what to do to help them play together.
“It’s always good to have two or three young boys who know what to do and seven or eight older boys. [doing]”Keeps the team together.”
The current squad is the ideal age group to do that.
We have already seen how players like Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah, who serve as role models on the pitch, can inspire other players.
Jarel Quansa has undoubtedly benefited from learning from Van Dijk, while Kao-Imin Kelleher has also developed a similar goalkeeping style to Allison.
A successful academy keeps a club healthy both financially and on the pitch, something Liverpool and Slot should continue to capitalise on.
