Liverpool will be taking some familiar faces back to Southampton on Sunday after their summer shopping spree on the south coast, though much of the excitement around the club at the moment surrounds a player picked up from Wycombe Wanderers who is starting to make a name for himself in the first team.

Jordon Ibe made just seven appearances for the Adams Park club, managing to become Wycombe’s youngest ever league debutant in the process, before being whisked off to Merseyside at the tender age of 16. Now 19, with the benefit of loan spells at Birmingham and Derby behind him, he is getting first-team football at Anfield and more than holding his own. Playing right-sided wing-back, it was Ibe who won the penalty that gave Liverpool the advantage over Besiktas last Thursday, on a night when the teenager’s confident mixture of pace, strength and trickery provided attacking adventure that few of his team-mates could match.

Ibe was at Derby, enjoying working with Steve McClaren, when the call came from Brendan Rodgers in January. “At first I was told the loan was for the whole season, and I was happy with that because I was getting games, making new friends and learning a lot on the training ground,” Ibe says. “But because it was a youth loan there was always a chance it could be cut short early, and that’s what happened. Liverpool got in touch a couple of weeks earlier to say they would like me back, and they were just waiting for the transfer window. At that point I was thinking to myself it might not be worth coming back if I wasn’t going to play, but when the gaffer called me, he said: ‘Head back for the Aston Villa game.’ I got on as a late substitute and since then I’ve been starting in games. It’s really exciting. Just being asked back was a confidence booster but playing games and doing well makes me happy. I know I’m only just starting out and I still have a lot to learn but I am enjoying my football.”

Bermondsey-born Ibe was such an obvious talent from an early age that he had a trial at Manchester City and caused interest at Manchester United before bringing his family up to Merseyside, no great wrench as it happens because his father, David, is a lifelong Liverpool fan. “When I was growing up I followed Chelsea a little bit, but dad was always a Liverpool supporter,” he admits. “His favourite players were Ian Rush, John Barnes, Robbie Fowler and other Liverpool legends. I was only nine in 2005 but I managed to stay up to watch the Champions League final in Istanbul.”

Ibe might be treading the Ataturk stadium turf this week, although the first job at hand is staying in the first team and trying to get a result at St Mary’s. “Right at the beginning, when I made my debut, I had a few nerves playing in front of big crowds, but playing in huge stadiums on pre-season tours gives you confidence and helps settle you down.

“Plus I get a lot of help from other young players in the Liverpool squad. Raheem Sterling has been a really big influence. He is only a year older than me but he is a player I look up to. He helps me and gives me advice, as do Daniel Sturridge and Mario Balotelli. You see what they have achieved at such a young age and it can’t help but give you confidence.”

Though an England international at youth level Ibe was offered the chance to opt for Nigeria instead when he broke through at Liverpool, something the player says he has yet to think about. “No one has actually asked me about that yet, so it is not on my mind at the moment.” he says. “There’s too much happening at club level at the moment. I just want to continue playing in the first team and that is all I am concentrating on.”