Jurgen Klopp's first Liverpool wonderkid is now spectacular £18m flop who has scored once in 18 months
Rhian Brewster's career has not quite hit the heights that it promised after he emerged as a Liverpool wonderkid under Jurgen Klopp.
Brewster came through the youth team ranks at Chelsea initially, before moving to Liverpool in 2015 for a reported £250,000.
It was that year that Klopp made the move to the Anfield club, as he began nearly a decade of success at Liverpool.
Klopp will leave the Anfield club at the end of this season, having won the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup, League Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup during his spell on Merseyside.
And Brewster was one of the first talents he spotted.
Indeed, as a 15-year-old, Brewster played two games on Klopp's first day as Liverpool boss.
According to The Athletic, Brewster played 50 minutes for Liverpool's under-16s side, before later coming off the bench for the under-18s and having a lively 10 minute spell against Stoke City that caught Klopp's eye.
However, despite being highly rated by Klopp, Brewster ultimately failed to make the grade at Liverpool and only racked up four appearances for the Anfield side, failing to find the back of the net in that time.
A loan spell in the second half of the 2019/20 campaign at Swansea City in the Championship yielded 11 goals in 22 games and helped prompt his later Liverpool exit.
That summer, Brewster ended up leaving Liverpool permanently as he joined Sheffield United for an initial £18m in a deal which could reach £23.5m in total in what was the Yorkshire club's record signing.
Upon signing, Brewster said: "There were a few teams who came in but right now Sheffield United is the best option for me.
"I am ready to come in and show everyone what I've got. It is a team that creates a lot of chances, the three at the back, overlapping, they get crosses into the box and that's my game - being in the box, finding space and one- and two-touch finishes.
"That's what I am going to try and do, and try and score goals for Sheffield United."
However, in 75 games for the Blades, Brewster has found the back of the net only five times and has scored just once in the past 18 months as injuries ruled him out for spells.
His only goal in the past two campaigns came last season when the Blades were in the Championship, netting what proved to be a consolation in a 3-1 loss away to Stoke City in October 2022.
Brewster is still only 23 and still has plenty of time left in his career to make an impact - but at the moment he is one of many wonderkids at a top Premier League Academy who has not had the career some expected him to have.
Topics: Liverpool, Sheffield United, Jurgen Klopp
John McDougall