Liverpool have produced their BEST academy star in years, he’s the next Erling Haaland

The Reds' academy doesn't often get the recognition it deserves.

Over the last two decades, Liverpool have produced a Ballon d'Or winner in Michael Owen, probably one of the greatest Premier League midfielders to ever play the game in Steven Gerrard.

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And there has been the likes of Jamie Carragher, Raheem Sterling and Trent Alexander-Arnold as well to add to that production line.

These days the most notable stars in the Liverpool first team apart from the aforementioned right-back are Curtis Jones and Conor Bradley.

There are high hopes for Jarell Quansah and there's plenty more young talent coming through the ranks on loan and in the club's academy.

But there are also players catching the eye after having left Liverpool. Neco Williams and Harry Wilson are great examples.

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There's another though who Liverpool's academy might rue to regret letting go because he might just be the best prospect the Reds' academy has produced in years.

We are of course talking about the goal-machine that is Marcus Neill.

The 16-year-old is the son of Lucas Neill, who played for Everton in the Premier League and was also the Australian national team captain.

At Liverpool he's probably most famous for his horrendous challenge on Jamie Carragher while at Blackburn which broke the Liverpool legend's leg.

Neill's son, Marcus, has taken up a different role. Instead of being a tough tackling defender, he's a goal-machine. The youngster spent five years at Liverpool's academy where he honed his trade but he has since left the club.

At the start of this season, Neill moved to Sunderland and he's been flying ever since. Just over a week ago, he scored a hat-trick against Liverpool's U18 side to showcase just what the Reds have missed by letting him go.

Now he's followed that up with four goals against Blackburn Rovers' U18 team putting his total tally for Sunderland's academy this season at 23 goal contributions in just 17 starts.

These are Erling Haaland esque numbers and Neill is proving himself to be an absolute fox in the box.

He's strong just like his father and has that tough edge to him - the kind that resembles Haaland at his best. At the same time, unlike his father he knows how to score goals.

The best strikers are those who just end up putting the ball in the back of the net time and time again and you can't figure out why.

Neill knows exactly how to put himself in those situations and seven goals in his last two games are a testament of that.

At this rate, it's only a matter of time until he gets his chance for Sunderland's first team. For Liverpool, this is a lesson learned.

They won't want to let a talent like Neill slip away from their grasp again. He's simply too good. The only hope that remains is that one day we'll see him scoring goals in a Liverpool shirt again.

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If he continues his development and the Reds continue to search for a striker at first team level, there's every chance of that.