Liverpool "close" to swoop for 31 y/o who may impact Harvey Elliott - opinion

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…

Liverpool are looking to add another talented young coach to their ranks, according to The Evening Standard.

What’s the story?

The report claims the Reds are set to appoint Vitor Matos to a role linking the youth sides with the first-team.

Currently at Porto, Matos will be tasked with smoothing the path from the academy to Melwood, a position formerly filled by Pepijn Lijnders prior to his promotion to assistant coach.

Matos has worked with Lijnders at the Portuguese outfit, and has operated both as a scout and as an assistant manager for the Primeira Liga champions’ B team, through which many of their players progress before playing for the senior side.

The report claims his switch to Merseyside is “close” to being finalised.

More youthful exuberance

You only need to look at Porto’s transfer history in the last decade or so to see they certainly know how to produce and curate top-tier young talent.

The likes of James Rodriguez, Andre Silva, Diogo Dalot and Ruben Neves have all risen through the ranks at the Estádio do Dragão before being sold for big money, and looking further back we see names like Falcao, Pepe and Ricardo Carvalho.

At Liverpool, there are many young players who could be looking to burst into the first-team picture, but top of the pile is surely Harvey Elliott.

The 16 year-old stunned fans with his performance in the Carabao Cup at MK Dons last week, forcing Jurgen Klopp to say he is ready for Premier League action, and the arrival of Matos, who has worked closely with the likes of Neves, can only mean good things for the former Fulham teenager.

Regardless of Elliott’s clear talent, making and maintaining an impact in the first-team at such a young age is always difficult, so bringing in the coach who helped produce the youngest player ever to captain his side in the Champions League will surely help.

With 36 year-old Lijnders in the assistant manager’s seat and now potentially a 31 year-old in the shape of Matos helping youngsters into the first-team, the youthful exuberance of a relatively young coaching staff should set up the perfect environment for players like Elliott to thrive.

from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/2mwLfdt