Ibe: "I Had to Think Hard About the Decision to Move"

Even though 17-year-old Jordon Ibe has quickly established himself as a regular with Liverpool's U21 side, the young winger has admitted that the thought of making the step up to a club like Liverpool from League Two's Wycombe Wanderers gave him pause.

"It was my first big move and it meant moving away from my friends," he explained. "Fortunately, my family have moved up with me and whenever I get time off I usually go down and spend time with my friends. I had to think hard about the decision to move—I wasn't stalling but moving to Liverpool is a big move.

"I was still 15, soon to be 16, and so was caught in two minds about whether I should stay or go. The manager at Wycombe was asking if I was staying or going and I didn't know what to say."

Ibe had already begun to establish himself in Wycombe's first team at the age of 15, making seven league appearances and scoring his first senior goal before being snapped up by Liverpool, and while most at Wycombe accepted he wasn't long for the club, few expected him to be gone from them quite so quickly.

And while moving so soon to a Premier League side might have seemed a dream on one level, it's easy to understand how someone could be overawed by such a prospect so early in their career. Ibe, though, quickly settled in at the U18 level at his new club during the second half of last season before making the jump up to regularly play with the reserves this term.

"At first, it was the training that was hardest to adapt to," he said. "At Wycombe I would usually get the ball and run with it. But here, there is not a lot of time on the ball. It is one and two touch football, passing it around. But I have got used to it and enjoyed it.

"I had to get used to all the other stuff that comes with being at a big club as well but the football was so different. At Wycombe it was just a case of kicking it long but we are trying to play football here."

He may yet be a season or two from making a case for himself in the senior side, but given how quickly he established himself first at Wycombe and then in Liverpool's U18 side, and given his continuing development this season with the U21s, few doubt that the difficult decision to join Liverpool so early in his career will pay off in the end.

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