McManaman: Liverpool friendly great experience for youngsters

Liverpool ended their season in rather unfamiliar surroundings with a friendly in Sydney, and club legend Steve McManaman believes the youngsters in particular will be better players for the experience.

Jurgen Klopp’s side enjoyed a trip Down Under to celebrate next season’s Champions League place, with Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno and Roberto Firmino all scoring in the 3-0 win over Sydney FC in front of 73,000 fans.

The match also allowed the likes of  youngsters Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ben Woodburn and Harry Wilson to take to the park alongside Reds legends including McManaman himself, replacing Steven Gerrard after 45 minutes.

Generated by IJG JPEG Library

And the former Anfield winger – who now mentors players – believes these fixtures are an ideal development programme for the next generation of Liverpool stars.

“I’ve known them all from the academy and I’m very impressed with all of them,” the 45-year-old said.

“It was great to see Rhian Brewster have a go with them [the first team], getting on and playing with them, because he’s very talented.

“But we’ve seen the likes of Connor Randall, Kev Stewart, Trent and Ben on numerous occasions [and] the more they play with the first team, the more they train with the first team, the better they’ll become.

“You see they’re not out of place at all and it’s great for the future.”