Home of football statistics and historyThe Premier League has forever been a theatre of dreams for youngsters hoping that one day they will christen the top flight.
Liverpool, who are currently 1/100 to win the Premier League with the best online sports betting sites, are well known for bringing through players from their academy and have used a number of youngsters in cup competitions this season.
Here are five youth players currently finding it difficult to break through to the first-team.
Phil Foden
Despite Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claiming he wouldn’t sell him for £500 million, Phil Foden has found game time scarce for the Citizens this season.
Foden has played over half an hour in a Premier League match just twice – away at Arsenal on the 15th of December and at home against Everton on the 1st of January – and just shy of four hours all season.
And, despite predicted to replace the aging David Silva and having signed a new five-year contract in December 2018, the 19-year-old does not yet appear to be fully trusted by Guardiola in his system. Betting sites like https://www.ausportsbetting.org/online-betting/ are offering 2/5 for the youngster to still be a City player come the Summer and this may well be worth a punt.
Rhian Brewster
Golden Boot winner from the Under-17s World Cup in 2017 and now with six caps under his belt for the England Under-21s, Liverpool’s starlet Rhian Brewster has been nowhere near Jurgen Klopp’s first-team squad in the Premier League this season.
Though on the bench for the Reds’ victory over Chelsea just before Christmas, the 19-year-old has only ever made two top-Premier League appearances for the Merseyside club.
Yes, Brewster does have insane competition in front of him with the likes of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino all on fire, but that doesn’t mean to say Klopp cannot use the youngster when games are already won – much like the German head coach does with striker Divock Origi – though his loan to Swansea suggests Klopp does not need Brewster for the rest of the season.
Oliver Skipp
It must be a kick in the teeth for a youngster to see your club breaking their transfer record on a player that specialises in your exact position. But that’s exactly what Oliver Skipp went through as his club Tottenham brought in Tanguy Ndombele for over £60 million.
Spending just 12 minutes on the field for Tottenham in the Premier League this season, the three-capped England Under-21 international may have to wait a long time for another opportunity given Spurs’ appointment of Jose Mourinho. Indeed, the midfielder actually played more games in the 2018-19 season (eight) than the three he has been given the nod for so far.
Ben Johnson
West Ham’s problems in defence have been well documented in the Premier League this season and so just why 19-year-old Ben Johnson hasn’t been given a chance is a mystery.
Johnson’s debut came in a baptism of fire, man-marking Manchester City wonderkid Riyad Mahrez as the Hammers went down a goal to nil. Johnson’s natural position is at right-back despite playing left-back against City, having previously been a winger.
Neither Manuel Pellegrini nor David Moyes have given Johnson a chance this season, but, if injuries take their toll, Johnson would certainly be a more-than-adequate replacement.
Morgan Gibbs-White
Whilst the four above have failed to break the glass ceiling of the first-team, Morgan Gibbs-White shattered it, but has since fallen out of favour. The England Under-21 international sported the Wolves jersey 26 times in the 2018-19, but has been given the nod by head coach Nuno Espirito Santo just three times this season. A key member of the England Under-17s that triumphed in the Euros in 2017, 19-year-old Gibbs-White is clearly no longer in Espirito Santo’s reckoning, playing just two hours of Premier League football and failing to be named in the match-day squad for the past ten games.
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