Liverpool get overlooked Champions League boost that goes beyond £90m prize money

As the full-time whistle sounded at Stamford Bridge on Thursday night, it wasn't just Mauricio Pochettino celebrating Chelsea's 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.

Defeat for Ange Postecoglou's side ensured that Liverpool are guaranteed a top-four finish for the seventh and final time under Jurgen Klopp, who has just three matches left as Reds boss before departing at the end of the season.

As Liverpool found themselves clear of the chasing pack and in control of their own Premier League fate at the start of April, with just seven games to go, the news that the Reds have secured a swift return to the Champions League has understandably been met with muted celebrations on Merseyside over the weekend.

READ MORE: Liverpool have remarkable proof of Klopp claims - it's time football listened

READ MORE: Seven times Klopp fell out with his Liverpool players and how it was resolved

However, after finishing four points behind Newcastle United last season and therefore having to settle for a first campaign in the Europa League since 2015 this time around, Klopp was keen to stress the importance of Liverpool's accomplishment. Even if it wasn't part of the 'dream' farewell envisioned back in January when he announced that he would be stepping away at the end of the campaign.

"Going back to the start of the season nobody knew, and everybody knew how important it would be to qualify for the Champions League again," remarked Klopp on Friday. “It’s what we did and it’s super important for the future of the club, and I’m really happy about that.”

It goes without saying that a return to the Champions League is a profitable business for Liverpool after earning just shy of £90m from their run to the 2022 final. Indeed, should the Reds reach the 2024 final in Munich, they could be set to topple that figure given the revamped format will see teams now play an extra two games between September and January.

Yet, it will have been at Liverpool's Kirkby Academy and perhaps not the boardroom where this week's return to the top table of European football was most celebrated, with Liverpool now assured of a place in the 2024/25 UEFA Youth League.

Since 2017, the young Reds have earned entry to the competition in five of the available six campaigns, with the 2020/21 edition shelved due to the coronavirus. This season though, after an uninspiring fifth-place finish in the Premier League last time out, Barry Lewtas' side were left without European football for the first time since the 2016/17 season.

"There's no getting away from it - the UEFA Youth League will be missed," Lewtas told the ECHO in May 2023. "We've had a real good run in it, and now we're having what we hope is only a one-season break.

"We have relied on the qualification of the first team to get there, so we have been unbelievably grateful to them for the work they've done over the last few years.

"We will still be able to get that exposure. But maybe the glitz and glamour of what the UEFA Youth League brings, such as the television cameras and more people coming to watch and the travel, we'll certainly miss that experience. We won't be able to replicate that."

In a commendable effort to ensure emerging talents like Kieran Morrison, Jayden Danns, Trey Nyoni and Keyrol Figueroa didn't miss out on crucial continental exposure, Liverpool arranged a series of mid-season friendlies against Ajax and Rangers. However, that was never going to be a suitable, long-term alternative for a competition that has been responsible for so much good fortune at Anfield since its inception in 2013.

"It’s brilliant, the whole experience of it," said Lewtas of the Youth League in September 2022. "Some of the new players won’t have played in this competition before, so it will be their first experience of travelling away with us and representing the football club.

"The game is the most important bit first and foremost, but in terms of preparation for this game, it is different to what the lads are normally used to. We are excited to be in it, we also get to go to all six first-team group games home and away and that is a real plus for the boys as well."

In fact, so influential is the competition in blooding the next generation of stars that in the Klopp era 22 players who have featured for the under-19s in Europe have gone on to make an appearance for the first team.

Included in that number are Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, who collectively featured in four editions, and have since gone on to make over 400 appearances for the Reds. Captain of the 2022-23 team Jarell Quansah is also one of the renowned success stories, making a further 29 appearances for Liverpool since his debut at Newcastle United back in August.

Perhaps most remarkable of all, though, was February's League Cup final triumph over Chelsea that saw eight of Liverpool's 20-man squad made up of Youth League alumni, with the likes of Bobby Clark, James McConnell, Lewis Koumas and Danns all joining Quansah as representatives of the 2022/23 team that reached the quarter-final stages.

And while not at Anfield, Tyler Morton [on loan at Hull City], Neco Williams [Nottingham Forest], Layton Stewart [Preston North End], Rhian Brewster [Sheffield United], Elijah Dixon-Bonner [Queens Park Rangers], Liam Millar [Preston North End], Billy Koumetio [Blackburn Rovers] and Ki-Jana Hoever [Stoke City] are all reaping the rewards of their time in the competition by earning moves to clubs either in the Premier League or Championship.

Of course, Klopp won't be at the helm to celebrate Anfield's next successful Youth League cohort but with the German keen to ensure the club is left in safe hands after his departure, it is no wonder he couldn't hide his delight at Liverpool's Champions League return earlier this week.

Click here to read article