Liverpool to re-sign ex-midfielder Jay Spearing in unusual deal after Tranmere release | Football | Sport
Liverpool are set to re-sign their ex-midfielder Jay Spearing in an unusual deal that will see him play in the club’s under-23s side. Spearing, who has just been released by League Two club Tranmere, joined the Reds as a seven-year-old and made 55 first-team appearances before being sold to Bolton in 2013.
Spearing was the captain of the Liverpool under-18s side that won the FA Youth Cup in 2007 but never quite made the grade at Anfield after being promoted to the first-team, although he was heavily involved as the Reds lifted the League Cup in 2012. The player has still managed to carve out a decent career in football and has appeared 147 times in the Championship, 142 times in League One and 75 times in League Two during spells with Leicester, Bolton, Blackburn, Blackpool and Tranmere.
Spearing has not been given a new contract at Tranmere. And, according to The Telegraph, the 33-year-old will return to the Liverpool academy in an innovative development role initiated by youth director Alex Inglethorpe.
The veteran midfielder will offer invaluable experience to players on the threshold of breaking into the Liverpool first-team, while also assisting coaching of some of the younger age groups within the club’s academy.
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And Crofts has already explained why the role works so well. “I think there are probably a lot of clubs thinking, ‘cor, why haven’t we done that before,’” Crofts said last year after he had hung up his boots to become head coach of the Brighton under-23s team.
“The first ones are always the brave ones to test it and give it a go. It looks like it has been successful at Brighton because of the players [that have progressed] and the impact that it has had on the age group. Consistency with young players is maybe one of the toughest things to achieve and I think experienced players know how to be consistent in their behaviours and their actions.”
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