Liverpool sold a bigger star than Trent for £23.5m, now he’s worth just £2m

Liverpool have shown time and time again that they can endure when the going gets tough. Players come and go, that’s football.

But Anfield has a knack for high-level sustainability, and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s expected decision to leave Liverpool for Real Madrid at the end of what looks to be a Premier League title-winning season shouldn’t knock Arne Slot’s project too far out of kilter.

FSG might be a tad divisive at times, but their strong framework breeds lasting success, and sporting director Richard Hughes will be expected to distribute transfer resources well this summer.

Trent’s departure will sting for awhile, of course it will, but Liverpool’s production line has perhaps never been as deep as it is right now, and there are indeed prospect’s waiting in the wings.

Liverpool’s rich crop of youngsters

When Alexander-Arnold leaves, Curtis Jones, 23, will take the mantle as Slot’s leading Liverpudlian, having already made 170 appearances since breaking in from the academy.

The future is bright, with the likes of Rio Ngumoha, Trey Nyoni and Ben Doak only a few of the next generation positively bursting with potential. That’s without even addressing Alexander-Arnold’s ostensible replacement Conor Bradley and fellow defensive up-and-comer Jarell Quansah, who Newcastle United are chasing and is worth upwards of £30m.

Not all of the highly-regarded prospects will hit their potential, mind. Such knowledge does make Alexander-Arnold’s brilliance since becoming Liverpool’s homegrown poster boy all the more staggering.

There was once a youngster considered to be of an even higher calibre than Alexander-Arnold, but sadly, injuries and circumstances have reduced him to a shadow of that once lofty potential.

Liverpool’s fallen prodigy

Liverpool have never had the most unrelenting of production lines, but there are some that filter through Merseyside’s youth ranks who just look destined for greatness. Trent’s one, Steven Gerrard another.

Where Are They Now

Your star player or biggest flop has left the club but what are they doing in the present day? This article is part of Football FanCast’s Where Are They Now series.

The man in question here, however, is Rhian Brewster, who looked a barnstorming young player through his formative years but was sold to Sheffield United in 2020 for a £23.5m fee. Aged 20 at the time, the English nine was regarded as one of his age bracket’s foremost talents.

Regarded as ‘Liverpool’s next great hope’ when cutting his teeth as a professional, Brewster scored a hat-trick in a friendly against Accrington Stanley in 2017 and looked to be the latest Merseyside marvel, but injuries sadly disrupted his 18th year and perhaps precluded his chances of breaking into Liverpool’s first team, sold as he was after returning from his layoff.

As you can see below, it’s been pretty miserable going for Brewster since that successful loan stint with Swansea City in 2019/20.

It’s sad, when looking at how the 24-year-old was at his more formative levels, that injuries have frustrated such fundamental development.

After all, his statistics across the younger years of his career bespeak prodigious potential.

Everyone was arrested by the giddy potential on show. To be sure, many young prospects look to be a cut above their age-mates, but there was something “special” about him, as Sky Sports reporter Melissa Reddy commented way back in 2018.

Though he didn’t actually feature, Brewster was included by Klopp in a Premier League matchday squad in 2016/17, making the bench as Liverpool fell to a 2-1 Anfield defeat against Crystal Palace. Perhaps if the Reds weren’t in such dire straits, Brewster could have tasted the top-flight grass aged just 16.

Alexander-Arnold had already made his introduction at this point, featuring seven times and starting twice in the league across the same campaign. The difference, however, is that he was already 18, two years Brewster’s senior.

Hailed as “the complete striker” with an “unbelievable” ball-striking ability by Klopp’s former assistant Pep Lijnders, Brewster was touted for big things alright.

Said to have been on the fast-track from the moment Klopp walked through the Anfield gates, Brewster bagged back-to-back hat-tricks for England at the U17 World Cup in 2017, standing out with 2023/24 Premier League Player of the Year Phil Foden as the cream of the crop.

It’s a sad tale that he has languished on Sheffield United’s bench for the past interminable years, but Brewster is determined to resurrect his career after flashes of promise in the Championship of late, scoring three goals and laying on two assists since December, rebounding from an earlier thigh problem.

All of a Liverpool persuasion will simply wish the centre-forward to hit his stride and impress over the coming years, but given that Transfermarkt record his value to sit at a lowly £2m right now, it’s hard to argue against the decision to sell him to the Blades in 2020.

In fact, Liverpool hit the jackpot on this fallen prodigy, who might have sat at the top of Liverpool’s pillars of promise once, even ahead of Alexander-Arnold, but now looks unlikely to drink the riches as his compatriot, who has won it all on Merseyside and will surely add more to his high-brim cabinet under the scorching Spanish sun.

Related

Talks held: Man Utd now eye £40m+ speedster Liverpool want to replace Trent

Manchester United have joined their arch-rivals in the race to sign a wanted figure.