Liverpool agree first professional contract with 'Polish Messi'

Liverpool have agreed a first professional contract with 17-year-old winger Mateusz Musialowski, a player who has already been dubbed the ‘Polish Messi’ by Reds fans following a sensational solo goal in the Under-18 Premier League last season.

That effort from Musialowski, who joined Liverpool from Polish club SMS Lodz last summer when he was just 16, was named the Under-18 Premier League goal of the season.

At the time, the teenager even said he has specifically modelled that side of his game on Messi by watching the way that the six-time Ballon d’Or winner players.

“When I see the space, I just go for it. I have seen a lot of Lionel Messi goals like that, so I try to be like him and I want to repeat it,” Musialowski explained.

Liverpool are clearly suitably impressed with Musialowski, who turns 18 in October, to offer him professional terms. He finished last season with eight goals and three assists in 19 appearances in the Under-18 Premier League, with a further four goals in six FA Youth Cup games.

The next obvious step would be to make the jump to Under-23 level this season and establish himself at a higher level.

In the meantime, however, he was part of the 34-man first-team squad that reported for pre-season duty earlier this summer and will be hoping to impress Jurgen Klopp and Pep Lijnders, as well as learn from the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

Liverpool have upcoming pre-season games against Wacker Innsbruck, Stuttgart, Mainz and Hertha during the ongoing mini-camp in Austria, where Musialowski could hope to get on the pitch.

The Wacker Innsbruck and Stuttgart games are being played on the same day behind closed doors and will only be 30 minutes apiece, but Musialowski and other youngsters could get a chance to be involved in one or the others. The subsequent Mainz game will be an hour long.

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