Liverpool have officially confirmed the permanent transfer of Luca Stephenson to Bolton Wanderers on Thursday.
The 22-year-old has been on the books at Anfield since joining at under-15 level and played for the Reds’ first team in a handful of pre-season friendlies, but he never made an official appearance for the Merseyside club.
Having impressed on loan at Dundee United for the past two years, the youngster has been poised to join the Lancashire outfit for a few weeks, with the Trotters reportedly having an offer accepted a month ago.
At 2pm on Thursday, Liverpool announced on their official website that Stephenson has joined Bolton permanently, with the transfer finalised today as the Merseyside club placed on record their best wishes for him for the future.
The midfielder spoke of his delight at signing for the now-Championship outfit (following promotion in May) as he told bwfc.co.uk: “The size of the club, the facilities here, the stadium, unbelievable. I came to a couple of games at the end of last year and watched the game against Bradford here in the play-offs.
“Just to see the atmosphere in the stadium, it makes you think, ‘you know, I want a piece of that’. From speaking to a lot of people who have played for the club in the past and a few of the lads that are here now, nobody had a bad word to say about the place. There were just positive words everywhere and it’s something I wanted to be a part of.”
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Although it always feels anti-climactic when a player works his way up the age grades at the academy without making a first-team appearance for Liverpool, we’re very pleased for Stephenson that he’s earned a move to a club on the up where he should have a strong chance of regular game-time.
He joins Bolton off the back of rave reviews for his performances on loan at Dundee United, whose manager Jim Goodwin hailed him as a ‘standout‘ player and one of the team’s ‘most consistent performers‘.
Realistically his chance at Anfield was unlikely to come, having never even been named in an official matchday squad for the Reds, and at his age (he turns 23 in September) it’s natural that he wants to put down roots at a club where he could plausibly have regular senior minutes.
The Trotters’ promotion to the Championship gives Stephenson a fine platform on which to perform, and he could conceivably come up against Liverpool next seaosn if his new side are drawn to face us in either (maybe even both) of the domestic cups.
We wish him all the best for the remainder of his career – hopefully he’ll go and smash it at Bolton!
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