19 Dec 2015

Done Deal: Liverpool sign-up 'fantastic' and 'talented' No.10 who's 'like Coutinho'

The January transfer window may be just around the corner, but Liverpool have started handing out contracts early, and with Jordan Rossiter still on the waiting list for a new deal, the Reds have handed Academy starlet Yan Dhanda a new long-term contract with the club.

According to the BBC:

"Liverpool youngster Yan Dhanda has...signed a professional contract with the Anfield club. Dhanda has signed a two-and-a-half-year deal..

Some info about Dhanda:

* Description on the official Liverpool FC website: "A talented player who loves to play in the No.10 role, just off the main striker. He can also play wide left and is very creative with an eye for a goal".

* Joined Liverpool's academy in July 2013 from West Brom.

* Represented England at under-16 and under-17 level.

* Won the up-and-coming player category at the Asian Football Awards in 2013, after which Ian Ayre raved: "Yan has a fantastic opportunity at Liverpool. He is a very talented young man and we hope he will achieve the best he can do."

* 2013: Admitted that his football style is 'like Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling'.

The media is making a giant hoo-haa out of the fact that Dhanda is the 'first player of Indian heritage' to sign a professional contract with Liverpool. That's great for him, but:

* Liverpool FC was founded in 1892; it's now 2015, so it's taken 124 years for Liverpool to sign a player Indian heritage? In my view, that's a shameful fact.

* What makes it worse is that Dhanda is one only TWO players of Asian descent in the Premier League.

* Overall, there are only NINE players of Asian descent in the four divisions of professional English football (The figure is even lower in Scottish football).

Clearly, there's still a very, very long way to go.

Author: Jaimie K


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