MY ACCOUNT
With title-chasing Liverpool preparing for a decisive Premier League final day, rumours of their first piece of summer business are circulating.
Aberdeen sensation Calvin Ramsay, 18, is reportedly on the Reds’ radar as they target a new right-back before next season.
But who is the Scottish starlet — and what would he bring to Jurgen Klopp’s side?
Ahead of this afternoon’s crunch clash with Wolves at Anfield, we take a look at the Dons’ teenage talent.
A local hero
Born in Aberdeen, Ramsay joined the club’s youth set-up at the age of nine and turned professional in 2019.
He made his debut for the Dons four months before his 18th birthday, coming off the bench late on against Dundee United in the Scottish Premiership, before earning his first start in a Scottish Cup victory over Dumbarton a couple of weeks later.
Evidently a prodigious talent, it was only a matter of time before Ramsay became a regular for his boyhood club.
Aberdeen’s No22 has featured 33 times across all competitions this season, scoring his first goal in April’s 2-2 draw at Dundee.
Making his mark
Ramsay has enjoyed a stunning first full senior campaign, capping it off by collecting the Scottish Football Writers’ Association Young Player of the Year award.
With seven assists in league and cup matches over the course of the season (at a rate of 0.27 per 90 minutes), he displayed the creative ability that seems to have caught the eye of Liverpool among others.
A pinpoint crosser with immense energy, Ramsay looks to have all the hallmarks of the archetypal modern full-back.
International recognition
Having already represented his country at Under-16 and Under-17 levels, Ramsay earned his first Scotland Under-21 cap in September.
And while these are obviously still very early days in the defender’s career, his trajectory so far suggests a first senior call-up might not be all that far away.
Scotland’s left-back position is stacked with talent in the shape of Liverpool’s Andy Robertson, Arsenal’s Kieran Tierney and Bologna’s Aaron Hickey.
Now it looks like they have an eye-catching prospect coming through on the right.
Getting up and running
Ramsay has credited his experience as a middle-distance runner with helping his development as a footballer.
He said: “When I was training with the Aberdeen U-14s and U-15s, there was always athletics going on.
“My dad thought it would be good for me to get involved so I could get a bit of extra training on top of my football, so I would go straight from football training to doing running training with the athletics team.
“It certainly helped my fitness and I really enjoyed it.”
That might prove to be just as well — supreme fitness is a fundamental requirement in Klopp’s team, after all.
Ready for the Reds?
Clearly, Ramsay would not oust Trent Alexander-Arnold from the Liverpool starting XI — the Reds’ crossing king is one of the best full-backs on the planet.
But the role of Alexander-Arnold’s understudy could be up for grabs.
Joe Gomez has been linked with a summer move away from Anfield in order to get more game time ahead of this winter’s World Cup.
In any case, Liverpool — who seem to have every aspect of their future meticulously mapped out — are believed to see Ramsay as a long-term challenger to Alexander-Arnold.
