Who is DJ Esdaille? Liverpool’s NEXT Trent Alexander-Arnold

DJ Esdaille is the next exciting right-back following Trent Alexander-Arnold's path in Liverpool's academy.

Over the last few years, the Reds have developed a knack for producing extremely talented full-backs, particularly right-backs.

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Alexander-Arnold is of course the shining example, having become a two-time Premier League champion and a Champions League winner as well.

He's a generational player who has paved the way for many of the club's academy graduates after breaking into Jurgen Klopp's first team.

But he is not the only one. There are two others who have emerged as outstanding talents from Liverpool's academy in the right-back position in recent years.

Neco Williams is leading Nottingham Forest's charge to reach the Champions League this season. Conor Bradley has emerged as one of the best young right-backs in the game and has become a solid first team member at Anfield.

The trio are proof of a brilliant production line at Liverpool's academy, and there's another young star in DJ Esdaille who will be hoping to follow in their footsteps.

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Who is DJ Esdaille?

Esdaille has been at Liverpool's academy since U10 level. He was born in 2007 and is currently a first year scholar playing with the club's U18 team.

A right-back, Esdaille has represented England at youth level but he's also eligible to play for Saint Kitts and Nevis, just like another Liverpool academy star in Kyle Kelly.

Esdaille is an interesting profile for a right-back. He's a really good defender first and foremost. He reads the game well and he's got the speed to beat his opponents, making him an attacker's nightmare.

With the U18s struggling he's been tested defensively throughout the season, having to average over 10 defensive duels per 90 minutes - but he's stood he's ground winning 67.4%.

Considering the high volume of defensive duels, winning close to 70% is a really impressive return. It just goes to show how reliable Esdaille is in that side of the game.

A recent example of his ability would be against Manchester City when he was involved in 16 defensive duels while coming up against one of the best players in the league in Reigan Heskey. Esdaille won 11 of those 16 duels and despite Liverpool losing 5-0, he didn't do much wrong.

Going forward, Esdaille has not been able to showcase his ability as much. He's definitely more of an overlapping full-back than an inverted one like Alexander-Arnold.

But Esdaille can still be a huge creative threat and he's shown promise he can be very effective in the attacking side of the game.

He averages 4.33 dribblers per 90 minutes this season, winning 55.8%. Meanwhile he has three assists in 12 appearances in the U18 Premier League.

Averaging 0.28 assists per 90 while playing in a team sitting second from bottom in the league is a really good return for a full-back.

To illustrate this season in the Premier League, Antonee Robinson averages the most assists per 90 at 0.22. Alexander-Arnold is averaging 0.18 this season.

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That's why Esdaille is such an intriguing talent and why he absolutely has shown he's got the potential to follow suit of the likes of Alexander-Arnold, Williams and Bradley by making a name for himself in the Premier League as a right-back academy graduate from Liverpool.