In July 2009, Liverpool agreed a deal to bring in renowned Barcelona youth coaches Rodolfo Borrell and Pep Segura to the club. In the mid-late 2000s, first team coach Rafael Benitez made it a priority of his to improve the club’s academy, as it had failed to provide the first team with a key player since Steven Gerrard who made his debut in 1998. Borrell agreed a deal to take charge of the under 18s in place of Hughie McAuley.

During Borrell’s tenure, there was a rapid improvement in the team’s performances in the Premier Academy League and FA Youth Cup. In his first season in charge, the team finished 4th as part of a congested mid-table in Premier Academy League Group C, and finished only in the fifth round of the FA Youth Cup, being knocked out by Watford. However, during his second season in charge, he led the team to an impressive 2nd placed finish in the Premier Academy League, losing out to Champions Everton by a single point- despite seeing his youngsters net 18 more goals than their cross-city rivals. He also led the team to the quarter-finals in the Youth Cup, being knocked out after a hard-fought tie with Manchester United.

Liverpool’s Academy began to garner a great deal of attention during this season, and there was a sense of optimism at the talents being developed under Borrell’s charge, most notably Raheem Sterling, Jon Flanagan, Jack Robinson, Adam Morgan and Conor Coady– who Borrell had named the under 18s captain during both the 2009-10 and 2010-11 Under-18s seasons.