Why the future is bright for Liverpool's young stars- Part Five: Martin Kelly

After a seemingly never-ending barren spell where Liverpool’s young stars have failed to make any sort of an impact on the first team the Reds finally have a crop of young players who appear destined to challenge for a place in the first team in the not-so distant future. In this five part series I examine the youngsters who are on the fringes of the starting eleven and consider their possible futures at the club.

In this final piece I discuss Liverpool’s most promising youngster, Martin Kelly.

For over five years Jamie Carragher has been the central and essential pillar of our defence. After years as a useful, adaptable and versatile defender Carra finally secured his desired position as a centre back under the guidance of former manager Rafael Benitez. With the 32-year old now approaching the end of his prestigious and eventful career Liverpool supporters have been searching for a young player with suitable grit, determination and most importantly passion to replace the iconic Reds defender.

As a result the emergence of Martin Kelly has offered hope to fans that Liverpool could have unearthed another player in the Carra mould. After only 17 appearances Kelly has shown his ability as both a right and a left back, as well as in his preferred role as a centre back. His versatility at such an early age inevitably draws significant comparisons with Jamie Carragher, and, alongside their shared characteristics, evidences the belief that Kelly could fulfil the role Carra excels in currently.

Although he missed two years of his development due to back problems as a teenager the 20-year old Kelly has progressed rapidly through the ranks at Anfield. It seems that far from hampering his chances of breaking into the first team, his earlier injury problems have instilled a resolute character within Kelly that will put him in good stead should he face any similar obstacles in his future career.

In 2007/2008 Kelly broke into the Reds’ title winning reserve side before he received a first team squad number for the following season, in which he made his Liverpool debut as a second-half substitute in our dead-rubber Champions League group stage match against PSV Eindhoven. He fulfilled his defensive duties adequately and must have impressed Benitez with a calm and composed display, however he wasn’t afforded subsequent opportunities in the first team and therefore decided in March to move to League One side Huddersfield Town on loan until the end of the season.

While playing for the Terriers Kelly was mainly used as a left back. Not only did this provide the Englishman with vital playing experience, it also developed the valuable adaptive quality necessary for young players to secure more opportunities in the Liverpool first team.

Moreover, he featured seven times for Huddersfield and scored the winner in their 3-2 win over Walsall in April 2009 as he began to develop his attacking ability while quietly impressing the watchful Benitez and his colleagues at Liverpool. Soon after his return to Liverpool at the start of the 2009/2010 season Kelly made his first competitive start for the Reds in their crucial Champions League match at home to French outfit Lyon.

Unfortunately Liverpool fell to a late and painful 2-1 defeat that left our chances of reaching the next stage hanging by a thread. However individually Martin Kelly put in an astounding performance at right back that provided a glimpse of hope from an otherwise thoroughly miserable night for Liverpool fans.

He was defensively solid and also posed a considerable attacking threat as his runs down the right wing threatened the Lyon defence on regular occasions. For him to make such a considerable impression on his Anfield debut in a critical Champions League match during a turbulent time for the Merseysiders was quite unexpected, however it was a pleasant surprise that showed the promise he possessed.

Disappointingly he suffered another injury setback during that match as he was sidelined with a groin injury after he had tried to prevent Lyon scoring their equalising goal. The fact that his commitment to preserving our lead had led to him sustaining an injury demonstrates both his devotion to the cause and his horrific luck. Even with the injury some supporters tipped him to replace Glen Johnson as first choice right back in the near future, however the injury meant he faced yet another significant spell on the treatment table.

Kelly eventually returned to first team action in February as a substitute in our Europa League clash against Romanian side Unirea Urziceni. He then made his Premier League debut when he replaced Glen Johnson during our 4-1 win over Portsmouth at Anfield, however Kelly has only really began to make a significant impact on the first team this season where he has featured regularly in the Europa League and has also impressed when afforded opportunities in the Premier League.

The Bolton born defender has been an almost ever-present member of our defence in the Europa League and has helped us through to the next round of the competition, only conceding a mere four goals in the process. However, he gained most plaudits for his tremendous display against Chelsea during November.

Kelly was unexpectedly thrown into the starting line-up as a late replacement for Sotirios Kyrgiakos, however he wasn’t fazed as he put in a brilliant performance to keep both Ashley Cole and Florent Malouda quiet for the whole 90 minutes. On top of that his assurance and comfort on the ball going forward posed problems for the Chelsea defence and displayed yet again his potential at both ends of the pitch.

He then followed this up with a steady performance three days layer when the Reds travelled to face Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. It was a disappointing night for Hodgson’s side as they failed to build on the momentum gained from such a comprehensive victory over the Champions Chelsea and could only manage a 1-1 draw, however Kelly quietly fulfilled his defensive duties to secure a point on a night when Wigan could quite easily have claimed all three.

Since then Kelly has completed 90 minutes against Steaua Bucharest and Utrecht and also played for the final five minutes of our convincing three goal victory over Aston Villa, however most importantly he has put pen-to-paper on a three year contract extension that will keep him at Anfield until at least June 2014.

That new deal represents the impact he has made on the first team set up and the importance of keeping a promising player who could step into Anfield stalwart Jamie Carragher’s boots in the future. In fact, many supporters have called for Kelly to start at right back on a regular basis in order to aid his development as well as to allow the defensively shaky Glen Johnson to exhibit his attacking brilliance further up the field. Although Kelly possesses less attacking prowess he is seen to be more solid and reliable at the back and could be the stable defender to counteract Glen Johnson’s forward thinking style ahead of him.

Personally I believe that Johnson should remain at right back for the moment as he is more effective when powering forward from deep because this allows him more time and space to exploit, however I do believe that Kelly will have an important role to play in our defence in the long-term and should be continually afforded chances to show his ability at both right back and centre back.

As much as I hate to use the phrase “the next Jamie Carragher” I believe that it can be aptly used to describe Martin Kelly, who is surely Liverpool’s most promising youngster and potentially has the brightest future ahead at Anfield.

YNWA