7 forgotten Liverpool wonderkids still playing in obscure leagues worldwide

Liverpool are renowned as one of the biggest clubs in world football and have produced a stunning array of players from their academy.

However, some haven’t quite reached those heights and ended up having far more alternative careers.

We’ve decided to focus on seven Liverpool academy graduates playing their football in some of the more obscure leagues around the world.

Bobby Clark – RB Salzburg

Clark was one of the first signings made by Pepijn Lijnders after Klopp’s former assistant moved to Red Bull Salzburg over the summer.

Liverpool received a fee of £10million for the 20-year-old midfielder and they also inserted a 17.5% sell-on clause into his contract.

After making a fairly bright start in Austria, Clark has fallen out of favour since Lijnders was sacked in December and has only made four appearances since.

Pedro Chirivella – Nantes

The most noteworthy moment of Chirivella’s Liverpool career was getting the club into hot water after playing in a League Cup victory over MK Dons whilst ineligible, having not received international clearance to play.

The Spanish midfielder never broke through beyond the fringes under Jurgen Klopp but has since established himself as a reliable mainstay for Ligue 1 side Nantes after joining them in 2020.

Chirivella serves as club captain at the Stade de la Beaujoire and has made 140 appearances for Les Canaris over the past five seasons. Good for him.

Joao Carlos Teixeira – Shanghai Shenhua

Once dubbed ‘the new Deco’, Teixeira had every Liverpool fan brimming with hope-filled excitement.

The club spent £830,000 to purchase him as a teenager from Sporting CP in 2013 and the midfielder impressed with his performances in their youth ranks.

After a series of loan spells with Brentford and Brighton, Liverpool let him go four years after signing him to Porto.

These days he is playing out in China for Shanghai Shenhua.

Sheyi Ojo – Maribor

Back in November 2011, Ojo was talked up in scouting circles as one of the most talented kids in the country.

Liverpool won the race for his signature when he was just 14 years old and reportedly paid MK Dons a fee in the region of £2million.

The winger went on to make eight Premier League appearances for the club amid no fewer than seven loans away – some more successful than others – and eventually moved permanently to Cardiff City, one of the clubs he’d impressed at.

But his second stint with the Bluebirds was less impressive, he was loaned out to Belgian side Kortrijk.

He joined Slovenian side Maribor on a free transfer last summer and is yet to score in 21 appearances for the club.

READ NEXT: Where are they now? Liverpool’s 13 wonderkids from Football Manager 2015

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Brad Smith – FC Cincinnati

Smith surprisingly played 10 times for Liverpool and even more surprisingly scored for the club (against Exeter City, but it still counts. What have you done with your life?)

He also started the trend of Bournemouth giving Liverpool big money for players they could have probably signed for a lot less, and made just 10 appearances for the Cherries in all competitions.

The Australian has since had spells with Seattle Sounders, Cardiff City DC United and Houston Dynamo.

He is currently still in the MLS with FC Cincinnati.

Dani Pacheco – Wisla Plock

It feels like yesterday that the Pacheco was around the fringes of the first-team squad at Liverpool, talked up as potentially the next big thing.

Turns out he left Liverpool in 2013, which makes us feel ridiculously old.

What followed was a fairly unremarkable journeyman career back in Spain, with Alcorcon, Real Betis, Alaves, Getafe and Malaga among the stops along the way.

But his career took an altogether more leftfield turn in 2021, with a move to Cypriot outfit Aris Limassol followed by a stint in Poland with Gornik Zabrze.

Pacheco then dropped down to the second tier of the Polish league system, signing for lesser-known club Wisla Plock.

Surprisingly enough, he’s only 34.

Liam Hughes – FC Haka

Hughes was an unused substitute in Liverpool’s Premier League victory over Sheffield United in 2021 but didn’t make it onto the pitch for the Reds.

He now plays out in Finland with FC Haka, but the young goalkeeper has only played cup action for his current club.