A number of young players at Liverpool appear to have signed new contracts with the club, judging by images which were published on Monday.
Rob Page’s under-21 squad reported for duty at the AXA Training Centre to begin pre-season testing and underwent a series of physical examinations as they commenced preparations for the upcoming campaign.
The official LFC website uploaded photos from the day’s activity in Kirkby, and independent Liverpool academy reporter Lewis Bower shared several of those on X, along with some notable observations.
He noted the presence of Keyrol Figueroa, Kyle Kelly, Afolami Onanuga, Ollie O’Connor and Ben Trueman, each of whom was offered a new contract by the club when the retained list following the 2025/26 season was published in early June.
It would duly appear that all of those have duly signed new deals on Merseyside, and Bower also highlighted the involvement of Joshua Abe and Ryan Cowley as they continue to recover from their respective injuries, with the latter missing the entirety of the last campaign.
Also present were three players with first-team experience at Anfield in Lewis Koumas, Calum Scanlon, and Luke Chambers.
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While sporting director Richard Hughes will have some major contractual situations to deal with in the coming months (including Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Curtis Jones, among others), it’s pleasing to see so many academy talents seemingly penning new deals to continue their development at Liverpool.
The presence of Abe and Cowley was also most welcome, with the former in line to travel with the senior squad for the pre-season tour to USA and the latter making notable strides towards a long-awaited return to action.
The first wave of established senior players aren’t due to report for training until next Monday, so the academy crop will have this week as an additional window to make an impression on new head coach Andoni Iraola.
Realistically the aforementioned names will continue their development in the underage ranks for the 2026/27 campaign, but they could potentially forge their way into matchday involvement for early-round domestic cup games if they’re deemed ready.
We look forward to seeing how these up-and-coming talents perform over the next few months, whether that’s at Liverpool or on loan (as seems likely to be the case for the likes of Scanlon, Koumas and Chambers).
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