Liverpool completes signing of 15-year-old giant defender with first-team experience
Oct 28, 2016 at 11:32 AM
Liverpool has reportedly completed the signing of Bury defender Emeka Obi.
Sources on both ends (i.e. the Bury Times and Liverpool Echo) were reporting early on Thursday that a deal was being lined up for the centre-back, who then pre-empted an official announcement by changing his social media biography to mark the transfer:
Seems Obi is all set! pic.twitter.com/YRKZeUi2gc
— Anfield HQ (@AnfieldHQ) October 27, 2016
Described as a “man-mountain” by Bury manager David Flitcroft, Obi (standing at 6 foot 5) came on as a substitute for Bury’s senior team in their 4-1 win against Morecambe in August and at 15 years 86 days, becoming the youngest ever player to play a first team game for the Shakers.
Flitcroft said of the young prospect around that time:
“I think he’s the best talent right now at 15 years old in the entire country,
“He only came in the building two years ago and nothing fazes him. He’s been training with the first team and he’s going back to school next week.
“He’s just turned 15, he’s a man mountain, but we teach them how to play football and he’s going to be an unbelievable asset to the football club. He’s a kid that’s really switched on, I’ve watched him while he’s been on summer holidays and he’s been in every single day.”
Liverpool is likely to pay a six-figure sum for Obi’s services (though a more precise figure is not known) and he is set to go into the club’s under-18 side.
The deal comes on a day when further details have emerged surrounding a proposed shake-up of Liverpool’s youth-to-senior set-up.
Currently, the first team trains at Melwood, five miles away from the youth base in Kirby, but Klopp is believed to want to merge the two – which would likely mean that Liverpool leaves Melwood as a training base in the next few years.