{"id":491281,"date":"2025-10-11T15:14:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491281\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T15:14:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:14:20","slug":"liverpool-seriously-interested-after-watching-standout-youngster-at-the-u20-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491281\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool seriously interested after watching ‘standout’ youngster at the U20 World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Liverpool scouts have been reporting back to the club on their findings at the U20 World Cup this month.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some of the best talents in world football have gathered in Chile to fight it out to become world youth champions.<\/p>\n

For talent-spotters, it is like Christmas has come early, and representatives from Liverpool<\/a>\u2018s recruitment team have been keeping abreast of all the action.<\/p>\n

As Rousing The Kop exclusively revealed earlier this week, Japan captain Rion Ichihara has impressed Liverpool<\/a> with his performances at centre-back.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Ichihara and Japan were eliminated at the round of 16 stage on Thursday, a 120th-minute penalty sending France through instead.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, journalist Graeme Bailey<\/a> has exclusively told RTK that Liverpool now have Ichihara firmly on their transfer radar regardless.<\/p>\n

\"RionPhoto by RAUL BRAVO\/AFP via Getty ImagesLiverpool continuing to track Rion Ichihara<\/p>\n

It is no secret that Liverpool are looking into future-proofing their centre-back options over the coming transfer windows.<\/p>\n

Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez could leave, while Virgil van Dijk may also depart once his contract expires in 2027. Liverpool need to be ready.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Who is Rion Ichihara\u2026 The penalty-taking centre-back wowing Liverpool scouts at the U20 World Cup<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result, they are paying special attention to any promising defenders across world football, with Ichihara now cementing himself within that framework.<\/p>\n

According to Bailey, Liverpool were not necessarily keeping tabs on the 20-year-old prior to the tournament in Chile, but they will continue to check on his progress in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool will keep tracking him,\u201d says the transfer expert. \u201cHow much are Liverpool looking at the Japanese second division? Perhaps not too much, but he\u2019s in the Red Bull system.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people can be sniffy about it, but he\u2019s turned in two or three man of the match performances at the U20 World Cup. He\u2019s been a standout player. He was one who they possibly weren\u2019t too aware of before going, but they\u2019ll now be keeping close tabs on him now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who else is catching Liverpool\u2019s eye? <\/p>\n

Like many top clubs, Liverpool will be compiling a great many reports after travelling down to South America to watch this autumn\u2019s youth tournament.<\/p>\n

There are several players who are expected to go to the top of the game turning out, including Mexico starlet Gilberto Mora.<\/p>\n

Mora is on Liverpool\u2019s radar<\/a>, and has justified his reputation with a sparkling tournament so far.<\/p>\n

The 16-year-old and his team will meet Argentina in the quarter-final, with the Albiceleste also boasting several players in Liverpool\u2019s sights.<\/p>\n

As RTK have previously reported, forward Ian Subiabre has been watched by the Reds<\/a>, and he will be one focus of their attention as the competition continues to progress. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool scouts have been reporting back to the club on their findings at the U20 World Cup this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,560,10265,4884,179,162009,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-491281","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-exclusives","11":"tag-graeme-bailey","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-rion-ichihara","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115356190731969465","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}