Liverpool discover MARVELLOUS 16-year-old Coutinho regen

Philippe Coutinho leaving Liverpool has long been seen as one of the biggest ‘what if’s?’ in the club’s history.

Liverpool’s ongoing success since Coutinho left to join Barcelona in the 2017-18 season has been the club’s longest period of dominance since the 1980s.

The legendary front three of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino will forever be given credit for that time period, but for half a season they were a new ‘Fab Four’ hoping to light up the league in a way that hadn’t been seen on Merseyside for a long time.

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Liverpool fans will, of course, recall Coutinho’s ability to find the back of the net from outrageous range. His technique of whipping the ball resulted in screamers that still find their way into ‘Best Premier League Goals Ever’ compilations.

One of the more underrated of Coutinho’s goals was against West Ham in the FA Cup in February 2016. Down 1-0, the Brazilian stunned Upton Park by rolling a free kick just outside the box underneath the wall to equalise.

Another Coutinho in Liverpool's ranks

And great news for Liverpool fans is that this exact goal has just been replicated by Ollie O’Connor for the under-18s.

The youth squad faced Sunderland’s under-18s on Saturday and, despite going 3-1 up in the 78th minute, found themselves under a bit of pressure as Sunderland brought themselves back to 3-2 as the clock ticked over to 90 minutes.

But with stoppage time ticking closer to the full-time whistle, Liverpool were awarded a free kick on the edge of the box. The position was eerily reminiscent of Coutinho’s lesser-referenced strike.

And up stepped 16-year-old midfielder O’Connor to kill the game with a highlight-reel-worthy strike.

"The young scouser Oliver O'Connor with a marvellous free-kick placed underneath the wall," was the verdict of the club's official account on X.

It was redemption for O’Connor who had given away a penalty earlier in the game, albeit contentiously, with both himself and Sunderland’s player challenging for a high ball.

The youngster was also involved with Liverpool’s third, threading the ball through to Karim Ahmed who found Joe Bradshaw to put the young Reds up 3-1.

And this performance comes just days after O'Connor was again brought into the setup in the under-19s UEFA Youth League game against RB Leipzig.

This is another exciting story emerging from Liverpool’s youth setup. Alongside Rio Ngumoha and Trey Nyoni, another Coutinho in the ranks would do just nicely.

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