Accusing the media of NOT hyping up a young, English starlet? Has to be a first.
One rattled Goodison Park post later and Brendan Rodgers is fawning over his latest teenage prospect. 19-year-old attacking midfielder Jordon Ibe stood out in a mostly unremarkable derby game between Liverpool and Everton last weekend.
Ibe, who recently returned from a 24-game, five-goal loan spell at Derby County, ran Toffess left-back Bryan Oviedo ragged and crashed a shot off the post, in the 0-0 draw.
The teen’s performance drew questions about his potential and Rodgers waxed lyrical. ‘He is a very talented player,’ the Liverpool boss told reporters. ‘If he was a foreign player everyone would be raving about him.’
Reminds us of West Ham manager Sam Allardyce and his claims he would have been named England boss, years ago, if his surname was ‘Allardici’. Rodgers added:
He is an incredible talent for someone so young and he can go into any arena in the world and play now. I expect big things from him but there is still a long way to go and a lot to learn but hopefully he could be a big influence for us.’
Rodgers dismissed the simplistic links to the Reds other attacking dynamo – Raheem Sterling. ‘Each player is different,’ he said. ‘You can’t throw a blanket over them and say he is the same.
‘Jordon is at an earlier stage and his pathway has been different – I felt he needed to go out on loan [to Birmingham and Derby], whereas Raheem went straight into the team.’
