Calvin Ramsay admits he refused to believe the injury prognosis that brought a shuddering halt to his Liverpool career before it had even started.
Ramsay arrived from Scottish Premiership side Aberdeen last June in an initial £4million deal, only to be diagnosed with a serious back injury during his medical.
The 19-year-old right-back had to wait until the Champions League group stage visit of Napoli in November before making his senior debut for the Reds, with his first start - and thus far only other outing - coming in the Carabao Cup third-round tie at home to Derby County the following week.
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And recalling his initial fitness setback, Ramsay said: "I was gutted, to be honest. I was in a scanner for about two hours and got told I had two stress fractures and had to go back in. I didn't even know it was there and I couldn't feel it. When they told me I thought: 'That can't be right'.
"I went back into the scanner and it showed the two stress fractures again. It made it even worse that I couldn't feel it because it felt like I was fine and could go out and train and play.
"I wanted to come here and just kick on, start training and hopefully play games, so it was a setback. I worked hard in the gym a lot so I could start training again as soon as possible. Now that I'm back and feeling good I need to keep working hard to try to get into the team. It won't be easy, but it's never going to be easy at a massive club like this."
Ramsay continues to build up his fitness with the under-21s and played the full 90 minutes of the 1-0 Premier League 2 defeat to Crystal Palace at Kirkby last Sunday.
He netted for the U21s in their 3-0 win at West Ham United in October having also found the net at Accrington Stanley in the EFL Trophy earlier in the month.
And the teenager accepts he needs to continue building the attacking side of his game to fit the template of Liverpool full-backs under Jurgen Klopp.
"It's a big pressure because of the amount of assists Trent and Robbo have got," speaking to the official Liverpool matchday programme. "I know that if I want to get into the team I need to get assists and pop up with some goals here and there.
"My biggest attributes are attacking, crossing and cutting inside to shoot, so once I get a chance I need to show those things and take my opportunity."
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