Who Is This 19-Year Old Liverpool Whiz Kid Knocking The English Senior Team’s Doors?

If you’re an avid Liverpool fan, you sure have to keep your eyes peeled for the youngsters coming through the famed Academy of yours. Raheem Sterling, the highly reputed young Englishman was the last starlet to dazzle the Anfield faithful with his flair and trickery and chip in with goals and assists in a side overshadowed with the contributions of both Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge. 17 year old Jordan Rossiter became the youngest ever Liverpool player to score for the senior side last year and by the looks of it, there’s no shortage of talent coming through from Melwood. Rightly so, another rising star in the name of Jordan Ibe has been making a lot of waves in England.

Career History

The 19 year old originally began his footballing career at Charlton Athletic when he was around 7 but following his release from Charlton, Ibe joined Wycombe Wanderers back in 2007. Coming through the Wycombe youth system, Ibe made his first team debut against Colchester when he was 15 in the Carling Cup back in 2011. Almost a month later, Ibe became the youngest player ever to play for Wycombe in the Football League when he came on, in the 90th minute against Hartlepool. Two weeks later, Ibe made his first senior start for Wycombe and in fact, managed to score in a 2-1 defeat at Sheffield Wednesday. All in all, Ibe made a total of 11 appearances for Wycombe, netting once.

In December that year, Ibe signed a pre contract agreement with Liverpool and joined up with their Under 18’s squad. In the 2012-13 season, Ibe made his first team debut for Liverpool, which was against Queens Park Rangers and the 17 year old assisted Philippe Coutinho in his goal too. In the February of 2014, Ibe was loaned out to Birmingham until the end of the season and scored only once, a 20 yard screamer against Millwall.

Days before the deadline day of 2014, Ibe joined Steve Mclaren’s Derby County on a season long loan and after impressive in the first half of the loan spell and was soon recalled by Liverpool this past January.

Style of Play

Ibe has certainly come on leaps and bounds since impressing against Liverpool in the Merseyside Derby and none more so than his stellar showing against rivals Tottenham.

Ibe is someone who can play on either of the flanks, but is slightly more effective down the left with an option of drifting inside towards the box. An incisive dribbler, Ibe loves to take on full backs and go past them with flair. He’s got very good balance and temperament when dancing past wide defenders, and is slightly more effective towards the left. The fact that Brendan Rodgers utilized him on the right at St.Mary’s to give Raheem Sterling more space to do his things on the left and through the middle, is a different tactical strategy all together.

Many of Ibe’s runs are from deeper areas, indicative of the fact that the young man manages his defensive duties well enough too by helping full backs behind him get right of opposition attacks. And the 3-4-3 formation, which Brendan Rodgers has used to turn Liverpool’s fortunes around suits him perfectly, especially with Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen alongside him.

His run above against Leeds United at Elland Road is quite exceptional, but in the end, the cross which was meant for Chris Martin is scuffed badly and is cleared into touch comfortably. This ability is something which Swansea’s Jefferson Montero lacks too.

At Derby, Ibe averaged 2.6 when it came to dribbles per game, which is very good for a youngster such as him. But again, his inability to find a penetrating pass makes his key pass accuracy quite low. And more so, in a total of 20 appearances, Ibe could create only 13 chances, which is slightly disappointing. And he could score just 5 times too.

Future?

Conclusively, I must say that Ibe is a fantastic talent, destined for doing big things for Liverpool, but sometimes, he lacks the finishing touch which could end up in a goal or an assist. Out of 10, I would rate him at 7.5 or 8 all due to his weakness.

Wingers must necessarily have the ability to pick out a pass because dribbling past full backs is something all modern day wingers do with guile. But what separates excellent wingers from good wingers is their ability to score goals and create them with consistency. And this is a reason why Eden Hazard hasn’t managed to reach the level of the Robben’s or Ronaldo’s of this world. And Ibe needs to find a little more consistency in doing that.