Record-breaking teenager is closing in on Liverpool first-team | OneFootball

Arne Slot has been a lot more strict with promoting young players in Liverpool's first-team set-up.

In contrast to his predecessor Jurgen Klopp, the Dutchman is a lot more conservative in his rotation. Slot prefers a small squad and very few young players can be a part of that.

He's not opposed to playing them. But he demands high standards and has perhaps less patience than Klopp. We saw this with the way Slot treated Jarell Quansah last season who he substituted in Liverpool's opening game of the season against Ipswich at half-time and then criticised publicly in his press conference.

That's not something Klopp would have done but it's a way of Slot setting standards and letting his players know just how much he demands from them.

This is not to suggest he's not willing to give players a chance. He's shown he can hand minutes to young players who demonstrated an especially high standard.

Rio Ngumoha is an example of that. He's played a lot of minutes for someone of his age already this season.

There are other talented young players in the club's academy also. Erik Farkas is one of them, and he'll be hoping to follow in Ngumoha's foosteps.

An England U17 international, Farkas was born in Hungary and moved over to England when he was only 11-years-old. After arriving in the country, he joined Liverpool despite Man City and Man United offering him a place in their academy.

Farkas has been with Liverpool's academy ever since and has made his way through the ranks. He is still considered an U16 player but he's already playing regularly for the U18s and has registered two assists from midfield so far this season.

On Tuesday, he made an even more significant step in his career. Farkas made his debut for the U19s in the UEFA Youth League.

In the process at just 16 years and three months old he became the fifth youngest Liverpool player to make a debut at this level. Only Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ngumoha, Trent Kone-Doherty and Aiden Yeguo debuted at a younger age.

© IMAGO - Erik Farkas Liverpool

But that's not the only record Farkas broke. He also became the youngest Hungarian to appear in the UEFA Youth League main phase. Previously, the record was held by Dominik Szoboszlai for several years. He made his debut in the competition at 16 years and 11 months old.

Then wonderkid Hunor Nemeth from Copenhagen held the record at 16 years and six months old.

Now though it belongs to Farkas, and beating the record of one of Liverpool's best players this season is an impressive feat by the youngster.

At this rate, Farkas won't be too far away from first-team recognition in the coming months. He's already made his debut for Liverpool's U21 side in a friendly earlier this season.

Farkas registered an assist in that game, setting up Jayden Danns to score.

If he keeps his exploits up, there's a good chance he could even be involved in first-team training come pre-season when all of the senior players are away at the World Cup.

Although before that, he has to come to an agreement over a new contract at Liverpool. His current one expires at the end of the season.

Liverpool are working hard to keep him and agree a deal.