[ad_1]
Liverpool’s academy is undoubtedly one of the best production lines for top talent across the country. In the Premier League era alone, they have produced some superb players, including the likes of Steven Gerrard, who played 710 times in that famous Red shirt, and Michael Owen, a Ballon d’Or winner in 2001.
Nowadays, the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold are flying the academy flag in the first team. A youthful Reds side lifted the Carabao Cup last season, beating Chelsea in the final as Jurgen Klopp won his final trophy at the club.
Sadly, not all players who come through the famous Liverpool academy live up to the hype, and that is certainly the case for one striker once compared to academy graduates Robbie Fowler and Ian Rush.
Liverpool’s next Rush & Fowler
The player in question here is academy graduate Rhian Brewster. Once a Champions League winner with the Reds in 2018/19, he never really managed to find his best form at Anfield and moved on from the club in 2020.
However, he was a player for whom fans and pundits alike had so much hope. Former Liverpool midfielder Jason McAteer once compared him to two all-time great strikers, Fowler and Rush, explaining they have “got a real player on our hands” back in 2019:
“You can see bits of Rushy [Ian Rush] in him, the way he runs, the way he closes people down. Also, bits of Robbie Fowler in his finishing.”
There is no doubt that the former strikers are two of the best in Liverpool’s history. Wales international Rush scored 346 goals in all competitions across his two spells at the club, with Fowler finding the back of the net 183 times and registering 50 assists in 369 appearances.
Sadly for Brewster, he could not live up to such comparisons. Incredibly, he played just four times for the Reds’ first team, despite winning a Champions League medal. He never played in the Premier League, nor did he get himself on the scoresheet for the club.
The London-born attacker had a superb record in the Premier League 2, although it was not something he could transfer to first-team level for the Reds. He scored 13 goals and grabbed ten assists in 28 games for Liverpool’s academy.
|
Brewster record in PL2 |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Season |
Games |
Goals |
Assists |
Minutes |
|
2016/17 |
8 |
3 |
1 |
705 |
|
2017/18 |
11 |
5 |
7 |
830 |
|
2018/19 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
147 |
|
2019/20 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
747 |
|
Stats from Transfermarkt |
||||
Despite his lack of first-team chances, he did show flashes of brilliance out on loan for Swansea City in the second half of the 2019/20 campaign. The striker scored 11 goals in 22 games for the South Welsh outfit, which earned him a move to Sheffield United in the summer of 2020.
First Impressions
What did pundits and fans alike think about their new star signing when they arrived? Football FanCast’s ‘First Impressions’ series has everything you need.
Brewster’s record for Sheffield United
The Blades broke their club record transfer to sign Brewster from the Anfield outfit. He cost £23.5m and joined the club on a five-year deal. At the time, manager Chris Wilder called him “one of the country’s hottest properties”.
However, he has not really lived up to expectations in the red and white striped shirt of the Sheffield side. The 24-year-old has played 87 times, but has scored just five goals and registered two assists.
To break that down further, the striker has scored four times in the Championship, although is yet to find the back of the net this season. He has also got himself on the scorehseet once in the Carabao Cup. He hasn’t scored in 40 Premier League games for the Blades so far, and they now find themselves in the second tier once again.
Frustratingly, it has now been just over two years since the former Liverpool man has scored in any competition. His last goal came 740 days ago, on the 8th of October 2022, in a 3-1 loss away to Stoke City.
It will certainly be disappointing for Liverpool fans and Blades fans alike that Brewster has struggled to live up to the hype. Early injuries and a lack of first-team football at Anfield no doubt affected him.
Brewster will be hoping he can rediscover his best form this season.
Related
Liverpool have a crazy teen star who’s a bigger talent than Ben Doak
The Liverpool teen burst onto the scene under Jurgen Klopp last season.
[ad_2]
Source link
