It won't just be Jurgen Klopp's senior Liverpool side looking to kick-start their Premier League campaign with a victory on Merseyside soil this weekend.
That's because Marc Bridge-Wilkinson's under-18s get their season underway against Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon at Kirkby (12:30 pm kick-off).
Like any other campaign, it's one that will provide eagled-eyed supporters with the chance to identify the club's up-and-coming stars as the Reds' fresh batch of youngsters attempt to impress in the shadow of their AXA Training Centre, hoping to one day earn themselves a permanent place at Liverpool's new £50m state-of-the-art training base.
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This term, manager Bridge-Wilkinson will be joined by Football League veteran and former Liverpool first-teamer Jay Spearing, as the ex-Bolton, Tranmere and Blackpool midfielder starts his coaching apprenticeship. The innovative player-coach role will also enable the former FA Youth Cup-winning captain to provide some much-needed on-field experience at points during this season for Barry Lewtas' U21s.
One player Spearing and Bridge-Wilkinson will hold high hopes for, ahead of his second campaign on Merseyside, is 17-year-old Bobby Clark. After an impressive maiden campaign for the former Newcastle United man, which consisted of 13 goals from 23 outings in the league, Clark was called up to the first-team squad at the beginning of the summer before he jetted off to the FarEast with Mohamed Salah, Darwin Nunez and Virgil van Dijk for the club's first pre-season tour since 2019.
"Bobby did really well, it was a real positive season from him," said Bridge-Wilkinson, reflecting on Clark's debut campaign. "He is a lovely boy first and foremost. He has a really good character, he obviously wants to be a football player, which is really important, and he listens and he learns.
"With all the natural instincts that he has got as a player and his technical ability he is tenacious in the way that he runs and tackles, he gets forward, gets back, and he is giving himself a really good opportunity. He has done really well so far."
Having made just one brief appearance in the Premier League 2 (U21s) during the 2021/22 campaign, Clark, who signed his first professional contract in February, was thrust into action against reigning champions Manchester City last weekend as Lewtas' men fell to a 3-0 defeat. However, the inclusion of the 17-year-old in a reinvented centre-midfield position suggests he could be getting prepared for a fast-tracked route to progress in the coming years, in a similar way that Trent Alexander-Arnold was when he was remade into a right-back by Neil Critchley and Alex Inglethorpe during his academy days.
However, Bridge-Wilkinson hasn't been the only Liverpool member of staff to wax lyrical about the former North East prodigy's progress in recent months, with first-team assistant manager Pep Lijnders quick to name-drop Clark, Stefan Bajcetic - who has enjoyed a phenomenal pre-season rise - and Luke Chambers as talents he wanted to further analyse ahead of this summer's pre-season.
"This is just my personal opinion, but I think a coach should be judged much more on the young players he brings through," said Lijnders back in January. "I really believe in our project looking at our academy. For example, I spent yesterday morning at the Academy to speak with the coaches and Alex Inglethorpe.
"We look all the time at the Academy. [On Tuesday], our under-18s played against Burnley in the FA Youth Cup, we had Bobby Clark, Luke Chambers, Stefan Bajcetic, they all stand out. I hope they come with us during the pre-season because it is important for them to have a proper pre-season to know exactly how we want to do things."
As a second-year scholar, Clark will be viewed as a senior head in the young Reds' dressing room as Bridge-Wilkinson is handed another influx of first-hand scholars to work with for the 2022/23 campaign.
However, with both of Lewtas' midfield stalwarts Tyler Morton and Leighton Clarkson sealing senior loan switches for the upcoming campaign - with Jake Cain expected to follow in the coming weeks with both Swindon Town and Crewe Alexander interested in the 20-year-old's services - Clark could find himself playing most of his football with the U21s after such an impressive debut campaign for the young Reds.
New additions in the U18s ranks include highly-talented duo Ben Doak, who joined from Celtic in March, and Trent Kone-Doherty, from Derry City, alongside promotions from the Reds' U16s group with names such as Keyrol Figueroa, the son of former Wigan defender Maynor, Lewis Koumas and Jayden Danns - whose dad's both boast Premier League experience.
It marks a total of 15 new additions for Bridge-Wilkinson to work with over the course of the campaign as Melkamu Frauendorf, Oakley Cannonier, Isaac Mabaya Chambers and Bajcetic are just a few names who will feature more frequently for Lewtas' U21s side after an in-house promotion.
For the 15 new members, their first taste of Premier League U18s action will come when Kirkby plays hosts to Middlesbrough on Saturday afternoon, and with the last fixture between the two sides ending in a 4-3 defeat for the young Reds, Bridge-Wilkinson is under no illusions of just how tough their opening-day test will be.
"It will be a tough game I’m sure but we are really looking forward to it," said the U18s' manager. "Middlesbrough normally come and make it hard for us and last season they won 4-3 here in a dramatic end to the game. It’s one we won’t be taking lightly and a game we will work really hard in to make sure we give the best account of ourselves possible, and hopefully come out with a positive performance and result."
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