Name: Rhian Brewster
Age: 19 Years, 2 weeks
Nationality: English 
Position: Forward
Rhian Brewster followed academy coach, Michael Beale, from Chelsea to Liverpool at the age of just 15. His has shown maturity beyond his years already in his career, having become one of the figureheads in the fight against racism in football, despite being just 17 at the time.
He also gained notoriety for performances on the pitch, particularly at the FIFA U17 World Cup. He gained world-wide press attention for scoring successive hat-tricks against the USA and Brazil in the quarter-final and semi-finals respectively, en-route to the final where he scored the opener in a 5-2 win against Spain. His eight goals saw him lift the golden boot award as the tournament’s top scorer.
In a match that saw a winger score a hat-trick, a 17 year old stroll around the pitch at CB like van Dijk’s mini-me, and two full England internationals coast through a game without needing to get out of 2nd gear, it was Rhian Brewster that stood out the most. By some distance actually.
As an attacker, he will be judged on end product of course – and he has that in spades. What impressed me most today though was his attitude towards the game. Liverpool absolutely coasted through this game and even at 1-0 there was only ever going to be one winner.
Yet Brewster played the match like it was his World Cup final. With Liverpool already several goals ahead, he crunched into a 50/50 against a big Leicester defender on our right flank to win the ball and try to set Chamberlain away. This despite the fact he is just a kid still, it is meaningless game we have already won, and he has just spent the last ~15 months overcoming a horror injury for which he received oxygen on the pitch.
Minutes later, dropping off the line akin to Bobby Firmino, a pass into his feet was intercepted before it got to him. Aware that the Leicester counter attack was on, he tracked the Leicester runner from the Leicester half back to his own box just to ensure they never had a free man to play the ball to in attack.
After such a long injury, Brewster is still in that period where games are simply about fitness. There is no expectation on him other than to get some minutes in his legs and set himself up for a good pre-season with us in the summer.
Yet clearly, he has come back after such a lengthy lay-off determined to treat every minute on the pitch like it is his last. It’s the sort of grit, drive and determination that made Liverpool fans fall in love with the likes of Suarez and Firmino. It is a side of Brewster we hadn’t seen before. But I like it. I really like it.
Back to talking about his end product though, if you replay that match a thousand times, he is scoring a hat-trick in almost every one of them.
1-0 LFC u-23. Rhian Brewster ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/2uH7oA5bIl
— KierownikWodopoju (@BoyBetterKnown_) April 14, 2019
His first was a poachers goal – all about those predatory instincts we saw in the U17 world cup. Determined to be on top of the keeper for any rebound. It’s the sort of play that adds 5-10 goals a season to a forwards numbers even if they don’t make the highlight reels.
He was also the player fouled for Liverpool’s second to earn a penalty, which Woodburn slotted home. He peeled off into space on the back post and was about to head into the net, similar to Mané’s goal today, when the defender threw a high leg into him earning a blatant penalty and yellow card.
5-0 LFC u-23 Brewster/Camacho ⚽️ pic.twitter.com/9EeItbYEyV
— KierownikWodopoju (@BoyBetterKnown_) April 14, 2019
Then for Liverpool’s fifth, he is the player who times his run to break the offside trap, races away, lifts it over the onrushing keeper, and slides the ball into the empty goal. Sure, Camacho touches it over the line to get his name on the score-sheet, but the goal was all Brewster.