Leighton Clarkson praised by Pep Lijnders after first-team training sessions

Liverpool midfielder Leighton Clarkson has impressed the Reds after being promoted into first-team training.

The Evening Standard reports that the 17-year-old signed his first professional contract this summer, and was one of the youngsters called up to feature in first-team training during the international break.

Liverpool’s assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders shared some of the insights from the training sessions and was all praise for Clarkson.

The assistant manager was speaking to Liverpool’s website and highlighted the kind of player Clarkson is (h/t Evening Standard):

“Leighton Clarkson, who sees with his own eyes the constant runs of Sadio and Mo in behind.

“He has the capacity to play the passes these type of forwards like to receive, he is the type of No6 we really like, the one who can dictate play, but dictate with direction, who can speed up the tempo of the positional play, the one who has always time on the ball.”

Young players need quality role models

Lijnders added that young players need quality role models and claimed that having Jurgen Klopp in the side was a “good thing”.

Clarkson could be the next big thing at Anfield, and it will be interesting to see how he develops this season.

The Reds have a lot of quality youngsters in the team, and they all are vying for a spot in the senior side.

Clarkson could end up going out on loan to attain more first-team experience in the coming years.

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Harry Wilson and Marko Grujic are doing that, and they could feature for us next season if they continue impressing.