Liverpool have taken former Barcelona youngster Juan Manuel Garcia on trial.
The defender, who is better known as Juanma, will spend a week with the Reds and he even started at left-back for Liverpool’s Under-21s in their friendly against Welsh Premier League outfit Rhyl FC.
The 19-year-old enjoyed an impressive debut and provided a sumptuous assist for a Brooks Lennon goal in a 4-1 win.
After the game, Liverpool U21/U23s manager Michael Beale explained that he is hopeful the talented star will be signed by the club.
“Juanma is a boy who’s come in to spend the week with us with a view to seeing more of him,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
“He’s only had a couple of days training with us, speaks very little English but you can see a very good player. He had a fantastic assist for Brooks Lennon.
“He was at Barcelona so we’ll have a look and see how we go with him.
“He’s very versatile and can play in different positions because technically he’s very good.
“I quite like him, he reminds me a little bit of someone like Pablo Zabaleta-type player, a nice player.”
The former Barcelona youngster is often compared to Manchester City ace Pablo Zabaleta.
Juanma played as a centre back and a left back during his time at Barcelona, where he progressed through from the cadet team to Barcelona’s Youth B team and then to the A team, where he made 17 appearances in the UEFA Youth League, including six as captain.
It is not the first time Liverpool have moved to take a player with experience of Barcelona’s La Masia academy.
In 2013, the Academy picked up Sergi Canos from the same place and, after a couple of years at the Academy and an impressive loan spell at Brentford last season, he moved to Norwich earlier this month for a fee of £2.5million rising to £4.5million.
Another youngster in the Academy after leaving Barcelona is Bobby Adekanye, a flying 17-year-old winger whose first season was dogged by injury but who remains full of potential.