Liverpool have signed talented 15-year-old Trent Kone-Doherty from Derry City.
The Irish youngster will complete his move next month and join the Reds Kirkby academy, where he will feature for Liverpool’s age group sides.
Derry’s Under-17’s coach, Gerald Boyle, said Kone-Doherty has all the attributes to work well at Anfield.
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“Trent certainly does have all the attributes to do well,” stated Boyle to the Derry Journal, “I think it’s going to become rarer that the top clubs in England are coming to these shores looking for players.
“Trent has that ‘x-factor, he’s got something special. His one-on-one ability is excellent. He has got serious pace but the biggest thing about him is that he has a brilliant attitude.
“He is so receptive to information, he wants to learn all the time and he’s a great team-mate as well.
“Those qualities, as well as his physical and technical abilities, will take him a long way because he’s a great kid to work with and, as I said, he wants to learn and get better. Hopefully that takes him a long, long way in the game.
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“Of course it’s going to be tough. The Premier League is a tough environment but you know what, Trent has got a really, really good chance because he has got that something special.”
Doherty is an exciting forward who will be desperate to make a big impact across the water from his homeland, and Boyle believes that the move will be the first of many into elite academies from the Republic.
“It’s global now, the clubs can go all around the world looking for players so the fact that Liverpool are coming to Derry looking for Trent tells you how special he is,” he added.
“Liverpool in particular go for quality over quantity, they don’t go for big numbers at their academy, so it’s a credit to everybody who has worked with Trent down the years from his boys club coaches and to every coach that has had him at Derry City."
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"They have all helped him on that journey to get to Liverpool.”
Chris Stonadge