The player signed from Wycombe Wanderers for £500,000 in 2011 has benefitted from loan spells at Birmingham City and Derby County and looks set to become a regular member of the first-team squad

Steve McClaren had more pressing concerns than studying Mario Balotelli’s first Premier League goal for Liverpool on Tuesday night as Derby County maintained their Championship challenge at Bournemouth. His interest will have been piqued by the creation of the Italian’s winner against Tottenham Hotspur, however, as Jordon Ibe demonstrated another job well done by the former England manager.

One reason Ibe was sent on loan to McClaren’s Derby at the start of the season was to fast-track his development as a team player as well as an individual of impressive pace, power and control. One reason the 19-year-old was recalled by Brendan Rodgers in January, as the Liverpool manager again looked within his club for solutions rather than the transfer market, was how rapidly his awareness and decision-making improved during 24 appearances for McClaren’s side. Ibe’s role in the goal that put Liverpool firmly in the hunt for Champions League qualification on Tuesday provided confirmation of it.

The timing and weight of the pass that enabled Adam Lallana to get behind the Spurs defence and cross for Balotelli’s breakthrough strike was in keeping with the intelligent, threatening performances that Ibe has produced since his return from Derby, his last two starts against Everton and Tottenham in particular.

Ibe was man of the match in the Merseyside derby at Goodison Park on Saturday, when his temperament and directness stood out on only the second Premier League start of his career, and was a creative source throughout the crucial 3-2 defeat of Mauricio Pochettino’s team. Daniel Sturridge almost benefited three times from the teenager’s industry but was denied by a fine save from Hugo Lloris and the post before being clipped by Danny Rose for Steven Gerrard’s successful penalty.

Senior Liverpool players have long been impressed by the powerfully built Londoner, signed for an initial fee of around £500,000 from Wycombe Wanderers in 2011 as the club made a conscious effort to pay comparatively decent sums for bright British potential. The transfer was orchestrated by Frank McParland, the former chief scout and academy director at Liverpool who also signed Raheem Sterling from Queens Park Rangers for a similar fee in 2010 but was released by the Anfield club in November 2013. McParland, now director of football at Brentford, held off strong interest from Manchester City to secure Ibe after only 11 first team appearances for Wycombe.

Ibe was born exactly one year after Sterling and while their speed, ability to beat a man, position and club invite comparisons, their development rate has differed. Sterling was ready to debut for Liverpool and remain in the first team at 17. Ibe was also handed his senior Liverpool debut at 17, an occasion overlooked at the time as Jamie Carragher made his Anfield farewell against Queens Park Rangers on 19 May 2013. However, he was not ready for an extended run, hence Rodgers’ decision to send him on loan to Birmingham City last season and Derby this. The Liverpool manager would be the first to stress that both young talents have further strides to make.

“If you look at the system we are playing now, Jordon can play in any one of the front five positions – outside, in behind or through the middle and that’s one of the reasons we brought him back,” said Rodgers. “He is a really talented footballer with a bright football brain and he can play in any one of those positions. I think his favourite position – and that’s what you’ve always got to look at – is that he is a player who wants to be wide and set up the duel for a one v one. His positioning has improved and that gives him the freedom to go inside and outside.”

Flexibility is another trait Ibe has in common with Sterling and is likely to ensure first-team opportunities continue to come under Rodgers. “You need specialists and players who are brilliant in one position for sure,” said Rodgers. “But I like to have a small squad of players who are multi-functional and can understand the game tactically. That allows me the flexibility to change systems freely in a game or at the beginning of a game and that’s the types of players I try to have.”

Five of Liverpool’s starting lineup against Spurs were 22 or under – Ibe, Philippe Coutinho, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can and Lazar Markovic – and Sturridge, Jordan Henderson and Mamadou Sakho are hardly entering veteran territory at 25, 24 and 24 respectively. Liverpool’s track record of nurturing players who made their Premier League debuts before the age of 20 is relatively strong, with Carragher, Gerrard, Sterling, Michael Owen and Robbie Fowler among them. Rodgers believes Ibe has the potential to maintain it.