19-goal wonderkid now ready to join Liverpool first-team

An exciting wonderkid is ready to join Liverpool's first-team.

Arne Slot has been a lot more measured in his approach to utilise academy stars. We've seen with his treatment of Rio Ngumoha that even five goal contributions in five games in pre-season isn't enough to give the youngster a lot of regular minutes on the pitch.

Part of that comes with Liverpool wanting to be careful not to overload Ngumoha too soon.

We've seen injuries curtailing promising careers at academy level a lot over the last few years so being careful makes sense.

Protecting young players is really important. Especially, when you see that Max Dowman for example has already suffered an injury this season and Lamine Yamal is struggling with pubalgia.

At the same time, Liverpool do want to create pathways and give young players more opportunities in the first-team.

And there are plenty of young players who are ready to step-up.

Among the brightest of young talents at Kirkby right now is probably Josh Sonni-Lambie.

The youngster has 19-goal contributions already this season in just 23 appearances for the club across all competitions.

His latest goal came at the weekend during Liverpool's 4-2 victory over Stoke City in the U18 Premier League.

Sonni-Lambie scored the Reds' third in goal towards the dying embers of the game, which secured a spectacular come-back from Liverpool after going 2-0 down.

The 17-year-old struck a volley from just outside the box with great instinct and power. But it was more than just his goal that showcased his ready for the step-up.

Sonni-Lambie showed extreme intelligent with his movement and in his ability to link-up. He was constantly dropping back and instigating chances for his teammates.

His ability to involve himself in the build-up is reminiscent of Hugo Ekitike who does similar things in the first team, or Roberto Firmino before him.

That's the type of player Liverpool fans like to see in attack and while Sonni-Lambie is young and still needs time to grow and develop, he's definitely ready for the next step in his career.

Last year he came on against adults in the EFL Trophy and changed the game providing an assist against Chesterfield helping the young Reds secure a draw and win the subsequent penalty shoot-out by calmly converting his penalty.

Having shone at that level, and with Liverpool having a shortage of attackers, it's clear Sonni-Lambie is now ready to join the first-team.

Not necessarily as someone who plays week in, week out but as someone who trains with Slot's first-team squad and gets the occasional opportunity to make an appearance.

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