Jordon Ibe has drafted in none other than the legendary Kenny Dalglish to help him take his game to the next level.
The Liverpool FC generations crossed at the club’s Kirkby Academy after the 19-year-old – who should currently be on holiday – asked the club’s Academy director Alex Inglethorpe to help arrange some extra sessions to work on his finishing.
One chance conversation between Dalglish and Inglethorpe later led to the extra training session as Dalglish got straight off a plane today to help out the promising young winger.
Inglethorpe told the ECHO: “Kenny Dalglish came in this morning and worked with Jordon Ibe and myself on a little bit of finishing. Kenny literally just got a plane and came straight here.
“This is driven by Jordon. He’s the one who wanted to come in and do a bit more. He’s the one who wanted to work on a few things.
“It’s incredible really. By chance I was just speaking to Kenny about something else. He landed at the airport at 10am and he was in here at 10.30am with his kit in and the boots on.
“He was working with Jordon, passing some fantastic pieces of advice as you’d expect. There were four or five of the U16s as well. What a day for an U16 – working with Kenny Dalglish, Jordon Ibe, on a beautiful sunny day, doing some good work.”
It was a breakthrough year for Ibe in the Liverpool first team after being recalled from a productive spell on loan at Derby. His 14 appearances would have been many more except for a knee injury against Beşiktaş which broke his momentum.
But Inglethorpe said the player himself – who recently signed a new long-term deal at Anfield – knows there is still lots of improvement to find.
“He’s looking to add to his game for sure, it’s very much driven by him, he’s turned up the last three or four days and I’d anticipate we’ll work again. He’s actually on his holidays but he wants to improve and get a bit better.
“He’s a really good lad and I think he recognises this is the beginning of his journey and he’s far from being complete. He’s still got a lot to do and a lot to work on, and it’s nice to know he sees that himself.
“It’s great to have a player who drives his own development.”
Ibe later shared a pic of himself with Dalglish in the Kirkby sunshine and told his followers: "Good session, improving during the off season with Alex Inglethorpe and the legend himself Kenny Dalglish."
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