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Perhaps more than any other in recent memory, this season served to highlight the promise of Liverpool's youth and academy setup. Expanded coverage--including our own delivered wonderfully by Jake--takes a good deal of the credit, as does the quality of the squad coming through. Because of that we're more aware of names we might not have paid attention to before, so news today that a handful of youngsters won't have their contracts renewed (at least not yet) shouldn't come as much of a surprise.
A handful of other Premier League sides had bigger names, including Frank Lampard, Joleon Lescott, Rio Ferdinand, and Andrea Dossena, but for Liverpool it was seven players who couldn't make the breakthrough. From the Premier League website:
Baio Yalany Cuino
Bijev Villyan
Mersin Yusuf
Ngoo Michael
Roddan Craig
Sama Stephen
Sokolik Jakub
This doesn't mean that the players above will be gone with 100% certainty, but it wouldn't be much of a shock if all involved headed elsewhere on a permanent basis. Of the names included, only Stephen Sama and Michael Ngoo came close to the first team, but neither were able to make the next step in a season that saw opportunities for those beyond Brendan Rodgers' preferred eleven few and far between. All are young enough that they should be afforded chances elsewhere (Sama is already set for Germany), and hopefully there's plenty in store for each as their careers get going.
