Were you at the Swindon Town vs Liverpool pre-season friendly in 2016? How about the 1996 Youth Cup tie between Liverpool and Manchester United at Anfield? If you were you can tell the grandchildren of the time you first saw Trent Alexander-Arnold or Michael Owen before anyone else, and how you just knew they were destined for greatness.
The truth is, that wasn't really the case. Sure, Owen scores a hat-trick that night if memory serves me correct. But you've done nothing until you've done something on a stage. Wayne Rooney's name was commonplace around Liverpool for a decade before his booming announcement to the world by scoring the winner against the then mighty Arsenal at Goodison Park.
The same can't really be said for Alexander-Arnold, whose "moment" can be debated and came after his breakthrough. For me, it will always be how he handled Leroy Sane and Manchester City's third-man running in the 3-0 Champions League win in 2017/18. Right then I knew I was watching a Liverpool player in every sense.
And yet he makes his debut over 12 months before in a League Cup win over Tottenham. We all knew him by then, of course. But many would still judge him on his slight frame or understandable tactical naivety. Nobody could realistically envisage such a trajectory, however there was clues missed even after his breakthrough which gave us a hint into the type of player we had on our hands.
In the lowly depths of the Premier League 2 in 2016/17, Alexander-Arnold played and absolutely bossed a dozen games, scoring four and assisting four times in twelve. His statistics are frighteningly good. 952 minutes, 66 percent dribble success, 24 touches inside the opposition penalty box, 26 progressive runs and 67 percent of duels won. All the time, he remained in and around Jürgen Klopp's first team squad.
The goals include free-kicks and deep runs into the opposition danger zone, the assists from that familiar right-peg in all manner of familiar ways. Alexander-Arnold was sleeping under our noses even when he was establishing himself as a Liverpool first team player, and history may now be repeating itself at Anfield.
Curtis Jones is now the same age as Trent was in 16/17 (18). He has 14 Premier League 2 appearances with nine goals and five assists, all the time he is moulding himself further into the first-team fabric. Jones' wonder goal against Everton in the FA Cup can be described as his "arrival", but still some harbour doubts about his impact on games or tactical awareness, just like Trent.
In a further comparison, to take a sample size of Jones' PL 2 and UEFA youth league minutes this season which is similar to Alexander-Arnold then (925), he stands out from the rest in terms of pass accuracy (88.5 percent), long pass accuracy (70 percent), opposition half-ball recoveries (65 percent) and pass accuracy into the final third (78.2 percent).
This maybe gives a reading into what type of player Jones might become for the Reds. Nobody is expecting him to morph into the next Xabi Alonso, but his ability to use possession intelligently can certainly form as the base of his identity as he fights for route into Liverpool's midfield. It isn't always the case that a player flourishing in what is essentially youth and reserve football will go on to shine at a higher level. It is even rarer when player's have a period in their young career when they're balancing both.
Liverpool may now have two in quick succession, and they'll be hoping the current goes on to be just as successful as the last.
