“I was disappointed”- Academy player opens up on disappointing pre-season lesson

Jake Cain opens up on being left out of the Liverpool pre-season

Speaking to Goal’s Neil Jones (h/t Liverpool Echo), Liverpool academy midfielder Jake Cain opened up about being disappointed after Jurgen Klopp’s decision to leave him out of the 37-man pre-season squad that toured the far East in Thailand and Singapore.

Cain, who spent the last season on loan at Newport County and did well while making 28 appearances in all competitions. He however, stayed back and trained at the AXA Training Centre instead of joining other youngsters accompanying first-team players for the pre-season tour.

I can’t lie, I was disappointed. I thought I had a good loan, I did what was asked of me, and I thought I could come back and show the first team what I can do.

The midfielder was part of the pre-season squad preparing in Austria last summer before making the loan move. Keeping that in mind and also seeing him do well during his loan period, it must be a bit disheartening for him to not get selected for another pre-season camp tour.

But, as the player also admitted, breaking through a Liverpool squad at any stage of the season is a tough ask for any player, let alone a youngster. It speaks volumes of the standards set by Klopp on Merseyside.

Klopp is generally someone who likes to give opportunities to youngsters in pre-season games to stake their claim for first-team selection. Him leaving Cain could only have happened because of the quality he already has at his disposal.

As much as it is disappointing, the 19-year-old cannot sulk now. He needs to continue working hard, maybe make another loan move and do well there, or continue to do well for the Reds’ youth side and one day get a chance to play and mix with the first-team.

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Cain has undoubted quality as a player. He is a versatile midfield player who can literally ply his trade in any of the positions across the central zones of the field.