'Didn't work hard enough': Jose Enrique says 27-year-old should have been absolutely incredible for Liverpool
Liverpool have had a number of academy players on their books in recent years who didn’t quite manage to live up to expectations.
Rhian Brewster was meant to be the next big thing, Ki-Jana Hoever was supposed to be a star in the making, while we all thought Ben Woodburn would be breaking records at Anfield by now.
However, perhaps the most notable example of a young player failing to live up to the hype at Liverpool was Jordon Ibe.
The winger was largely tipped to be Raheem Sterling’s replacement at Anfield, but he didn’t quite manage to hit those heights, being sold to Bournemouth after just a handful of games for the Reds.
Since then, Ibe’s career has faltered and he’s currently a free agent at the age of 27.
Many Liverpool fans would be forgiven for forgetting all about Ibe, but ex-Reds star, Jose Enrique, has now discussed the winger on Twitter when asked which academy player he was most excited by that failed to live up to expectations.
jordan ibe without a doubt. an amazing guy with an incredible talent but he didnt work hard enough off the pitch to make it to the top https://t.co/LUVoDFMVWA
— José enrique (@Jesanchez3) March 13, 2023
Enrique, rightly, says that Ibe had all of the talent to be a star for the Merseyside club, but he notes that the winger, quite simply, didn’t work hard enough off the pitch to become the player he should’ve been.
The reality is that becoming a professional footballer is not all about talent. You have to have the application alongside it.
As Kevin Durant once said ‘Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.’ And sadly, by the sounds of it, that saying applies to Ibe.
The Liverpool academy has produced some of the best players we’ve seen in recent years such as Trent Alexander-Arnold and Raheem Sterling, but, unfortunately, Ibe couldn’t reach his potential in a red shirt.
