Liverpool’s latest wonderkid & the international golazo that’s left our jaw dislocated

Sometimes in life, events conspire to leave you feeling high on yourself.

This phenomenon can take many different forms. For example, you might find yourself promoted at work and find a fiver on the street while walking home.

It could be the sense that all those hours spent in the gym and being semi-strict with your diet have paid off when the warmer months come around and strangers can’t take their eyes off your marble-chiselled body.

Or it could be scoring for Liverpool while still in your teenage years and quickly following it up with a debut goal for your country. This, ladies and gentlemen, is Lewis Koumas in March 2024.

One of Klopp’s kids who won the Carabao Cup for the injury-stricken Reds last month, Koumas followed up his Wembley appearance with a clever finish against Southampton in the FA Cup fifth round just days later.

“A wonderful goal,” Jurgen Klopp raved afterwards. “A boy playing on the left wing against a senior player in a team with not a lot of patterns, let me say it like that, is tricky.

“Staying in the game for these moments just shows he is a real striker because the goal is exceptional, the step in and then he shoots before the goalie can settle. A really good finish.”

Aged just 19, it already felt inevitable that Koumas was destined for the international stage and made his Wales under-21 debut from the bench against Lithuania on a cold March night in Newport

With the score level at 1-1, the player with a face that’s an embodiment of the fact you’ll never be young again received a lovely pass on the edge of the Lithuanian penalty area.

Mere mortals would probably take a touch in this situation, no doubt conscious of both themselves and the xG nerds that would snap their pencils in fury at shots taken outside the box.

Not Koumas, though. Opening his body like a well-worn book, the youngster curled an irrepressible first-time finish beyond the opposition goalkeeper to win the match. Blimey.

Lewis Koumas came from the bench to make his Wales U21 debut and eventually scored the winner in Wales Euro U21 qualifier vs Lithuania. pic.twitter.com/kgTZBhX2Lb

— Lewis Bower (@LewisBower2021) March 22, 2024

After the match, Koumas told BBC Sport Wales that he was inspired by Robert Page’s senior squad after sharing a training camp in the build-up to their Euro 2024 play-off win over Finland.

“It’s really motivated me to see if I can try and get myself in and around the senior squad,” said Koumas. “That’s what I came here to do – to try and leave an impression and hopefully Rob Page can see that.”

Page was in the stands at Rodney Parade to watch Koumas’ star-turn and the player reflected upon a whirlwind couple of weeks.

“It’s been a great period for me, a crazy journey but a lot of positives to take from it. It’s only the start and I have to keep my head down, keep training, keep a smile on my face and see where it takes me.”

You’d think that will include a senior international career with Wales, considering the succession of young talent promoted to the Wales set-up such as 19-year-old Birmingham midfielder Jordan James who started the win over Finland.

“It shows anything can happen and you have to be ready at any time so if you are called upon you take your chance,” Koumas said.

“I’ve put the Welsh shirt on a couple of times now but this was really good, and being around the seniors this week has been motivating me and driving me even more to go and do what I did.

“Just coming on the pitch for Wales was a great feeling but to help them in a game like that and score the winner was a great feeling and hopefully I’ve shown what I can do.”

If we’d have had the last month that Koumas has just experienced, we’d be higher than Snoop Dogg on a Jamaican holiday. And he’s only just beginning.

By Michael Lee

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