The 6 academy kids Liverpool let go in the summer – & how they’re faring elsewhere

Liverpool were happy to let a number of players depart the club following Jurgen Klopp’s exit at the end of last season.

Sepp van den Berg and Fabio Carvalho were sold, Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip retired after their contracts expired and several fringe players were allowed to leave on loan.

But what about the homegrown talent that left Liverpool? Here are the six academy graduates that Liverpool let depart the club in the summer and how they’ve got on with their new clubs since.

Mateusz Musialowski

We started to doubt that Musialowski was ever going to live up to his early billing of the ‘Polish Messi’ when he barely got a look in under Klopp. He made just one senior, competitive appearance for the Reds, a 16-minute cameo in last season’s 6-1 Europa League mauling of Sparta Prague.

Now we’re certain that the Poland youth international won’t justify the hype of that impossible nickname. Liverpool released him in the summer and he ended up joining Omonia Nicosia.

So far he’s made just one appearance in the Cypriot First Division, but he did mark it with a goal in a 5-3 victory over Omonia Aradippou.

Melkamu Frauendorf

Liverpool signed the Germany youth international to bolster their youth ranks back in 2020. He spent four years developing his skills on Merseyside and made over a hundred appearances for the club from Under-18 to Under-21 level.

But he made just two cup appearances for Klopp’s first team before his release at the end of last season. The 20-year-old winger has since returned to Germany, having signed for Hannover 96, but for now he’s plying his trade in the third tier with their reserves.

Coached by former Barnsley and Hearts manager Daniel Stendel, Hannover 96’s B team currently find themselves in the bottom three of the Bundesliga.

Adam Lewis

“Academy kid” is admittedly a bit of a stretch for local lad Lewis, who is 25 years of age. The left-back only made one senior appearance under Klopp and spent most of the last four years of his contract away in a series of loans – Amiens, Plymouth, Livingstone and Newport.

Beleaguered League Two outfit Morecambe signed him on a free transfer after their transfer embargo was lifted back in July. He’s notched three assists for the Shrimps, who unfortunately sit at the foot of the League Two table and look destined to fall out of the Football League.

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Billy Koumetio

Another familiar face for anyone that kept tabs on Liverpool’s Under-21s, Koumetio only made a couple of cup cameos in 2020 and 2021 before struggling for gametime in loans away to Austria Wien, Dunkerque and Blackburn Rovers.

The defender wasn’t released in the summer, but he was allowed to join Dundee FC for a small, undisclosed fee. He’s featured regularly in their backline in the Scottish Premiership so far this season, with a respectable – if mixed – midtable record.

Bobby Clark

One of Klopp’s kids who helped beat Chelsea’s “blue billion-pound bottle jobs” in the League Cup final last season, Clark emerged to make 14 appearances in all competitions under Klopp.

Many expected the teenager to continue his rise and become more of a prominent squad fixture this season, but instead Liverpool cashed in and sold him for £10million to Red Bull Salzburg – a move that saw him reunite with Stefan Bajcetic (only on loan) and Klopp’s former right-hand man Pep Lijnders.

Salzburg have dominated the Austrian Bundesliga in recent years, but they suffered the shock of being beaten to the title by Sturm Graz last term. And the arrival of Lijnders, Bajcetic and Clark have done little to turn around their fortunes – they’re currently 11 points behind Sturm Graz in the table, while they’ve lost three of four in the Champions League so far.

Clark has been in and out of Ljinders’ starting XIs, but he did play 90 minutes in their vital 3-1 victory over Feyenoord.

QUIZ: Can you name these 10 Liverpool academy graduates from their Wikipedia career path?

Harvey Blair

The 21-year-old forward made his senior debut for Liverpool in a League Cup match against Preston over three years ago, but a second appearance was not forthcoming and his last year at the AXA Training Centre was severely impacted by a meniscus tear injury.

Towards the closing stages of the summer window, Blair was sold to Portsmouth for a reported fee of £300,000. He’s yet to score or assist in seven appearances for the Championship relegation-battlers, but the majority of his opportunities have been late off the bench.