After Liverpool beat Chelsea to win the Carabao Cup on Sunday it was ‘Jurgen Klopp’s kids’ who captured the headlines, with the average age of his team under 22 at the final whistle.
The youngsters were given a chance from the start in Wednesday’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Southampton and impressed again, with Lewis Koumas (18) scoring on his debut and Jayden Danns (18) bagging two off the bench.
Conor Bradley (20) started both games at right-back and having been brought on to offer fresh legs as the final ran into extra time, Bobby Clark (19), Danns, James McConnell (19) and Jarell Quansah (21) were all rewarded with starts at Anfield.
There was also a debut for 16-year-old Trey Nyoni, who came on for the last 12 minutes of the Southampton game.
BBC Sport gets to know a little bit more about Liverpool’s young stars.
Jayden Danns, 18, forward
Another scouser to follow in the footsteps of Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, Danns joined Liverpool’s academy aged eight and made his first senior appearance in a recent 4-1 win over Luton Town.
The 18-year-old can play in midfield or attack and has started quickly in the senior team. Against Luton, he helped set up a goal for Harvey Elliott a minute after being introduced. In Sunday’s final, Danns was narrowly denied a headed goal by Chelsea keeper Djordje Petrovic after coming on in the 87th minute.
He was not to be denied against Southampton, though, as he came off the bench to score twice in front of The Kop.
He is the son of former footballer Neil Danns, and following Liverpool’s win over Luton, manager Rob Edwards told Klopp: “I played with his dad!”
Danns’ breakthrough into Liverpool’s first team this season follows an impressive campaign with the under-18s, scoring 10 goals during 2022-23.
Even Everton supporter Tony Bellew is a fan, writing on X on Sunday: “Just turned 18yrs old and your second game is a cup final! Jayden Danns you little star – go and win it for them young king.”
Lewis Koumas, 18, forward
Having been an unused substitute at Wembley, Koumas was named in the starting XI for Wednesday’s FA Cup tie and soon made his mark.
Playing on the left of a front three, he dribbled across the top of the box before hitting a low shot that found the bottom corner with the aid of a deflection.
Koumas is also the son of an ex-footballer, former Wales international Jason Koumas, and joined the Liverpool Academy from Tranmere as an under-11s player.
He is able to play out wide, as he did on his senior bow, in midfield or as a striker. He scored 16 goals during the 2022-23 season and has added another 12 this campaign, five for the under-18s and seven in as many games in the Premier League 2 for the under-21s.
Trey Nyoni, 16, midfielder
England Under-17 international Nyoni became the third youngest debutant in Liverpool’s history when he came on for the latter stages of the victory over Southampton.
Only Jerome Sinclair (16 years and six days) and Harvey Elliott (16 years 174 days) were younger than Nyoni. But at 16 years, 243 days, he is the youngest ever to feature for the club in the FA Cup.
The technically gifted attacking midfielder joined from Leicester in September 2023 and after quickly shining for the under-18s – he scored an injury-time winner against Everton on his home debut – he was promoted to the under-21s.
Nyoni was an unused substitute in the EFL Cup final but got his chance three days later and looked confident and assured in possession during his brief time on the pitch.
Bobby Clark, 19, midfielder
Talented midfielder Clark is the son of former Premier League winger Lee Clark, who played for Newcastle, Sunderland and Fulham in the 1990s and 2000s.
The 19-year-old joined Liverpool from Newcastle in 2021 and previously trained with Birmingham City between 2012-14 when his dad was manager.
Clark is a versatile attacking player, who can play across the forward line and in midfield – scoring 13 goals with Liverpool’s under-18s in his first season.
He got his senior debut with Klopp’s team in a 9-0 win over Bournemouth in August 2022, and has featured recently in Premier League wins against Chelsea, Luton and Burnley, as well as coming off the bench during an EFL Cup semi-final win over Fulham and an FA Cup third-round win against Arsenal.
Clark’s dad Lee told BBC Radio 5 Live that Klopp has “total belief” in his young players, and it did not surprise him “at all” to see his son in the squad.
Clark senior added that Klopp will leave a behind a squad of “terrific” young players who can be successful for “many, many years”.
Clark featured in BBC Sport’s Wonderkids series in 2020, when he revealed his favourite skill was the double L-turn.
Conor Bradley, 20, right-back
Bradley has been the most talked about young player of Liverpool’s 2023-24 campaign.
The 20-year-old right-back was called up to deputise for vice-captain Trent Alexander-Arnold when the latter picked up an injury in January, and his performances since have given Klopp a selection dilemma.
He made his Premier League debut in a 4-0 win over Bournemouth in January and scored his first senior goal in 4-1 win over Chelsea, when he was named man of the match. Bradley missed out on Premier League games against Arsenal and Burnley after his father died. In his 12 appearances for Liverpool he has scored one goal and assisted five.
The full-back was involved throughout Sunday’s Wembley win, before being subbed off late in the second half. Bradley is the first Northern Irishman to win a major trophy for Liverpool in 101 years – the last being Belfast-born goalkeeper Elisha Scott, who won two league titles in the early 1920s.
James McConnell, 19, midfielder
McConnell joined Liverpool from Sunderland in 2019. After debuting for the under-18s as an under-16 player in 2020, the midfielder went on to captain the under-21s this season.
He was brought into the senior squad this season against Brentford, Toulouse and Union SG, before getting his first start in a 5-2 win against Norwich in the FA Cup fourth round. Deputising for Alexis Mac Allister, 19-year-old McConnell got an assist for Liverpool’s first goal in that match.
The youngster began as an attacking midfielder when he joined Liverpool, but has been adapted into a number six.
Speaking to Liverpool in November, McConnell said he has been “learning from players like Dominik Szoboszlai, the younger ones like Curtis and Harvey” who have given him “great support and help”.
Jarell Quansah, 21, centre-back
Quansah joined Liverpool’s academy aged eight and captained the under-18s.
After a loan at Bristol Rovers last season, the Warrington-born centre-back has become a regular starter for Liverpool this campaign. In absence of Joel Matip he has made 20 appearances, including five in Liverpool’s six EFL Cup games.
Before the final, he told Liverpool’s website that his rise has been, “crazy”, saying: “I’ve just been told that a year ago on [the day of] the final I’d just played against Oxford City away for Bristol Rovers in League One.”
