Liverpool widens global search for young players as academy recruitment grows

Liverpool is widening its search for young footballers overseas, with a dedicated global talent department helping identify recruits for its academy. Recent moves for players from Senegal and Austria show the approach in practice. The question for Liverpool is whether those players can progress toward the first team, an outcome its academy director says the club seeks but cannot yet establish.

BBC Sport reports that the department, led by Matt Newberry since winter 2024, draws on regional scouts and contacts around the world to decide which young players to pursue. Academy director Alex Inglethorpe told the BBC that Liverpool first looks within Merseyside, broadens its national recruitment at age 14 and then looks globally. He said the club’s first intention when signing a player is to give them a chance of reaching its senior side.

A route from Senegal

One example is Mor Talla Ndiaye, an 18-year-old Senegalese centre-half whom Liverpool signed in January 2026 for about £1m plus add-ons, according to the BBC. Scouts had noticed him at the U17 World Cup in Qatar the previous winter. Other European clubs were interested, but Liverpool pursued him through video calls and a visit to Senegal, where representatives met people involved in his development and presented their plans to him and his family.

The BBC reports that Ndiaye chose Liverpool because its proposed pathway and its effort to understand his background stood out. His route began in the village of Sandiara, where he played in the streets, before he developed at Bousports Academy and Amitie Football Club. Those details explain why the club’s recruitment involved more than assessing match footage: its representatives also sought to understand the setting in which he had learned and played.

Other recruits and limits

Liverpool also moved for Austrian centre-half Ifeanyi Ndukwe after the U17 World Cup, paying £2.6m, according to the BBC. The 18-year-old has gone on loan to Levante in Spain as he seeks a UK work permit. His case illustrates a practical limit on recruitment: identifying and signing a player does not necessarily mean he can immediately play for Liverpool in England.

The club’s plans extend to players whose arrivals remain ahead. BBC Sport says Colombian midfielder Samuel Martinez, 17, is due to join next summer; his father said he had received 30 offers worldwide. The BBC also reports that 18-year-old Belgian goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans and 18-year-old French forward Djylian N’Guessan are set to join permanently in 2027. Those expected joining dates should be read as plans, not completed arrivals.

Competition for young players is another constraint. According to the BBC, Arsenal beat Liverpool to Georgian player Andria Bartishvili last month, with the 17-year-old expected to join Arsenal next summer when he turns 18. That example shows Liverpool’s wider search operates in a market where other clubs are pursuing the same prospects; a club’s interest alone does not secure a signing.

Why Liverpool is looking wider

Inglethorpe told BBC Sport that Brexit has significantly changed the English recruitment market and brought a premium for young English players, though he said it remains to be seen whether that premium is worthwhile. Liverpool’s overseas search sits alongside, rather than replacing, the local and national recruitment sequence he described. The BBC also reports that sales of players who represented Liverpool at youth level have brought in more than £230m since 2020, money it describes as part of owner Fenway Sports Group’s self-sustaining model. The report does not provide an audited breakdown of that figure.

International rules shape the ages at which some moves can happen. FIFA says transfers of players under 18 across national borders have been prohibited since 2001 except under narrowly defined exceptions. Its current framework requires one of six exceptions to apply and FIFA to approve the move in advance. FIFA’s February 2026 guidance says the volume and legal complexity of applications have grown. The rules provide context for Liverpool’s recruitment plans; they do not establish whether any particular prospective transfer will receive approval.

Recruitment also continues after a player signs. Inglethorpe told the BBC that arrivals from abroad may need help with language, food, weather, culture and different playing surfaces. He described time as especially important for a young player’s development. That support is part of the pathway Liverpool offers, but neither the club’s intentions nor its recent signings establish which recruits will become regular first-team players or deliver a financial return.