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Thirty-one minutes. That was all it took to convince Mel Johnson that Jordon Ibe was something very special.

It was October 29, 2011, and Wycombe Wanderers were playing Sheffield Wednesday at Adams Park.

Hardly the glitz and the glamour of the Premier League, and certainly a far cry from a packed house at Anfield, but talent sometimes emerges in unlikely places.

Johnson, who at the time was Liverpool's scout in the south of England, had been set to attend another game that day, but changed his plans following a tip-off from Gary Waddock, the Wycombe manager, on the Friday night that Ibe would be starting.



“Gary is a friend of mine,” Johnson says. “And he would always keep me updated with how Jordon was doing, how he was training, how he was integrating with the senior players.

“Obviously everyone knew about this talented young player. There were scouts at every game he played, even at youth level, so once I knew that he was starting against Sheffield Wednesday, I made sure I was at the game.”

Read More: Check out the full Jordon Ibe story by Neil Jones - part one as he takes his first steps in football, part two when he makes his mark at Wycombe, part four as he joins Liverpool, and part five as we look at Jordon's impact for Liverpool this season

It was a good job he did. Johnson looked on with amazement as Ibe, at 15 years and 325 days, marked his first professional start with a fine individual goal.

He then, like everyone else, shook his head as the goal was followed by a booking, after Ibe left the field to celebrate with his mother in the Main Stand. Pedantry knows no bounds, where referees are concerned.

“He was sensational,” Johnson says. “At half-time I texted Damien Comolli (then Liverpool's director of football) and just said 'you've got to sign this kid.'”

The following Monday, at the weekly conference call Comolli conducted with his scouting and recruitment team, the wheels were put in motion for Ibe's signing.

Johnson attended Wycombe's next game, against Notts County, and watched Ibe produce an impressive 17-minute cameo off the bench. Two more Liverpool representatives, including then-Academy chief Frank McParland, watched him at Fleetwood Town a week later. Their answer was the same; it's a yes.

*READ: Part two - making his mark at Wycombe Wanderers

“It's the moment you wait for as a scout,” Johnson says. “A lot of the time when you're working for a club like Liverpool, you're going to games just to cross players off your list.

“But when you see a player like Jordon, it's that 'wow' moment, that you don't get very often.

“All the reports I had from Gary Waddock and (Wycombe's chief scout) John Griffin said he was a good kid with a good attitude, which is crucial. You have to have as much information as you can when you're recommending a player.

“I went to watch a Youth Cup game at Crawley Town. Jordon wasn't playing, but he was in the stands with his mates, and so I kept my eye on him, how he conducted himself and so on. He'd played in the first team at that stage, but there was nothing big-time about him, he was quiet and respectful and I noted that.”

Ibe himself remembers returning to his school, Sacred Heart in Camberwell, on the Monday after that Sheffield Wednesday game, and seeing a science lesson interrupted as everyone gathered around to watch 'The Football League Show' on BBC iPlayer. If he didn't know already that his life was about to change, he did now.

Six months earlier, he had helped Sacred Heart win the Year 10 (Under 15) Inner London Cup. Six weeks after the Sheffield Wednesday goal, Ibe was signing for Liverpool.

Next: Making his mark at Liverpool