Who is Prince Kobe Cisse? Liverpool’s NEW Trent Alexander-Arnold | OneFootball

Meet Prince Kobe Cisse

Djibril Cisse's 16-year-old son, Prince Kobe, has been at Liverpool's academy for years. He also represents Wales at U17 international level and is thought to be a highly rated prospect.

He's a first year scholar at the academy this season, playing both at U16 and U18 level.

Last season, he had already made his debut for the U18s at just 15 years and seven months old.

Over the course of his career in the academy, Cisse has mainly been deployed as a forward or as an attacking winger at U16 and U15 level - just like his father.

Even last season, he mainly played in that position while making brief cameos for the U18s and representing Wales at international level.

However, recently there has been a significant shift in the young footballer's career - a shift that mimics exactly what happened to Trent Alexander-Arnold at the same age.

© IMAGO - Djibril Cisse at 20-years-old.

When Alexander-Arnold arrived in the U18 team, he was regarded as a winger or a central midfielder. This is where he had played most of his minutes at the time.

But he was ultimately transitioned to play as a right-back, which is exactly what young Cisse has been tasked with doing as well.

Since December he has played all of his U18 games as a right-back, even filling in at centre-back briefly against Leeds.

Meanwhile, in Wales' U17 European qualifiers, he has also represented his country coming on as a right-back most recently against Italy back in November.

It's an interesting role switch, and one it's really difficult to judge him on at the moment but there are promising signs.

First of all it's important to note two caveats about Cisse and the U18 team. He's a late bloomer.

Players born during the summer months do not always get the same attention as players born during the first three or four months after September.

This is called the 'relative age effect' and it's due to how England classifies players in youth categories based on what year they are in at school.

It means someone born in September 2007 is classified in the same age-group as Cisse, despite being almost an entire year older. The above will explain why he has only played nine matches this season and why he's mostly been playing for the U16 team.

Another factor why it's difficult to judge him is because Liverpool's U18 side have really struggled this season. They have suffered heavy defeats week in, week out and finished second from bottom in the U18 Premier League.

Being thrown into these situations, you're never going to get a clear picture of a player.

But in fairness to Cisse, he has stood out when he has been on the pitch.

In the games he's played at right-back so far, he's definitely caught the eye.

As per Wyscout, in his first start in the role for the U18s in a 4-2 win over Wolves, Cisse won 13 out of his 15 defensive duels, made four interceptions and seven recoveries.

Since then he has averaged 10.59 defensive duels per 90 and has won over 75% of them while averaging three interceptions and six recoveries per 90 minutes - those numbers are special and it shows you the kind of talent Cisse is.

Offensively, he's yet to showcase his quality, but that is something that's difficult to do for a right-back playing in a side who are struggling at the bottom of the league.

For now he's proven he's clearly got the the defensive prowess to succeed in that role and the attacking side of his game should come naturally given where he has played in the past and especially if he's inherited the skills of his father.