Liverpool Already Honing Its Own Future Lionel Messi

Liverpool might already have a future Lionel Messi in their youth squad. Mateusz Musialowski is a 17-year-old striker currently playing for Liverpool Under-18.

Apart from scoring a whopping 130 goals for his boyhood club back in Poland, the soccer prodigy generated quite a buzz around the English Premier League after scoring a “Messi-like” goal during a recent U-18 game.

This season, Musialowski already has seven goals to his name, and it didn’t take long before Liverpool’s first-team coaching staff to notice his fine form.

The Polish is included in the 12 “hand-picked” Liverpool academy players joining the senior team to train in front of Reds boss Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool Echo reported.

According to Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders, it is “important” for a club to instill loyalty to its academy players and that is what the Reds have been doing.

"We use the time to give a proper impulse to our Academy process," Lijnders told the Liverpool news outlet. "The best clubs in world football have something in common: a one-club mentality. Being split, you have nothing. That’s why it is so important for this club to be together.”

“Vitor [Matos] and Alex [Inglethorpe] selected 12 of our finest talents to train with us,” he continued. “We know from experience that you need to accelerate this process from an early age, being with us from a young age, creating hope, creating belief in the talent and letting them absorb our way, our playing ideas. You can do a lot in youth, the biggest development happens when the manager shows faith, and that’s what we are doing.”

“We feel this responsibility, I feel it with all I have,” the coach added. “That is something that never will leave my identity, bringing through young players with fire in their veins. It can be a proper advantage, but you need patience and belief, these are the two keywords in youth development. Everyone knows we believe in bringing and utilizing the power of the youth. Jurgen [Klopp] and myself, we care so much about our talent, the inside pathway.”

Musialowski is taking a huge step forward in his promising career now that he is training with Liverpool’s senior team. As for the current U-18 season, the teenager vows to continue emulating Messi’s game.

“I just ran with the ball,” Musialowski told Liverpool’s official website of his Messi-esque goal. “When I see the space, I just go for it. I have seen a lot of Lionel Messi goals like that, so I try to be like him and I want to repeat it!”