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It’s the kind of picture you can see adorning the walls of Liverpool ’s Kirkby Academy for years to come.

Trent Alexander-Arnold . Ben Woodburn . One of them the man of the match, the other having plundered a goal in front of the Kop. One of them 18, one 17. Both of them with grins as wide as Stanley Park.

All it needed was Ovie Ejaria, the Reds’ third teenage musketeer, to make it the perfect portrait.

Tuesday was, as Andy Kelly wrote on these pages, a gem of a night for the Academy. Three graduates, barely out of school, shining on the big stage.

‘Only’ Leeds United, yes, but this was still a cup quarter-final, an Anfield examination in front of more than 52,000. One which all three of these precocious talents passed.

Nobody left unimpressed. Steven Gerrard, sat in the director’s box, wore the smile of a man who could soon be working with these players on a regular basis.

A few seats along Michael Owen tweeted his approval at seeing Woodburn succeed him as Liverpool’s youngest ever goalscorer. In the Sky TV studio Jamie Carragher loved what he had seen.

All three came through the ranks at the club during the 1990s, and it is fair to say the wait for the next star has dragged somewhat in the years that have followed. Since Gerrard’s Reds debut – 18 years ago yesterday, fittingly – no youth team product has managed more than 67 senior appearances. Jon Flanagan is the only player to reach 50 who is still at the club.

That is something Alex Inglethorpe, the Academy director, has spoken about recently. It’s a hard business bringing through young footballers, but Liverpool want players who will go on to play hundreds of first-team games, not handfuls.

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“It’s great to have players in and around the first team and great also that we’ve been able to sell Academy players,” Inglethorpe told the ECHO back in August.

“But we won’t really have succeeded here until someone goes in, stays in and wins trophies with that collection of players – that’s the dream, that’s why we’re here.”

That ‘dream’ hasn’t been realised yet. Woodburn is the 14th player to make his professional debut since Inglethorpe’s promotion in August 2014, but of that crop only Kevin Stewart has made more than 10 appearances – and the midfielder was 20 when he signed from Tottenham.

Woodburn, Alexander-Arnold and Ejaria look, from early glances, like they could buck the trend. All have progressed rapidly from U18 to senior level, and all have greeted each step up with a composure and determination that suggests they’ll be around for some time to come.

There have been big changes at the Academy in recent years, both in terms of personnel and strategy. The departures of Rodolfo Borrell and Frank McParland in 2013 were greeted with dismay at the time, but Inglethorpe has created a structure which seems to be working.

Since his installation, numbers have been slashed at Kirkby by around 30%. The idea, he says, is to focus more on “elite talent”, quality as opposed to quantity.

It’s an idea he picked up during visits to various European academies – most notably Athletic Bilbao, arguably the most important youth system on the continent.

Inglethorpe was told how Bilbao focus their attention on a select group of players who may one day populate the first team, rather than 'wasting time' on those whose careers are always likely to lie elsewhere. Even at Athletic, whose entire squad are 'Cantera' products, it is rare than more than three or four emerge from any one age-group, so coaches are encouraged to focus their attention more on the boys most likely, rather than the 'filler'.

(That may sound harsh on boys as young as eight or nine, but top-level football is a business, not a place for sentimentality - even at that age).

Carragher, Owen, Gerrard and others all emerged during the Steve Heighway era, and Inglethorpe’s decision to bring the former Academy chief back to the club in a mentoring role has been well-received to say the least. Dave Shannon, one of Heighway’s trusted coaches, is also back.

While the likes of Phil Roscoe, the long-serving head of education and welfare, and Matthew Newberry, head of academy scouting and recruitment, do their thing, Inglethorpe trusts his staff - from Michael Yates with the U10s to Michael Beale with the U23s - to provide the best possible coaching and guidance, liaising closely with all on a day-to-day basis.

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As one source put it, “there isn’t anything at the Academy that Alex isn’t across – and that’s how it should be.” Inglethorpe is firmly behind the idea of merging Melwood and Kirkby in future, and Klopp has described the pair’s relationship as “perfect”.

At present Pep Lijnders, in his role as first-team development coach, acts as the main bridge between junior and senior level. His weekly ‘Futures Group’, which takes a handful of youngsters up to Melwood to train each Tuesday, has proven a huge success.

The Dutchman’s relationship with Klopp is a strong one, and the manager has been impressed by the quality of player – and, perhaps just as importantly, character - being brought to him.

Just as importantly, the Academy has been encouraged by the opportunities being afforded at senior level. Klopp tried just about every available player last season, recalling some from loan spells mid-term. Nobody, not even Jose Enrique, could say they didn't get a chance.

Beale may jokingly lament the loss of his star players to the first team, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He, Neil Critchley, Barry Lewtas, Des Maher and co will have cheered as loudly as anyone when Woodburn found the top corner at the Kop End on Tuesday night. To them, that is success, as much as an FA Youth Cup or Premier League 2 win.

Not everyone will have such an impact, of course, and that is a point worth making. For every Gerrard, every Owen, every Woodburn, there are those that burn bright but fade fast. Football is a cut-throat business, and disappointment lies round many corners.

For now, though, positivity is the order of the day. Ejaria, Alexander-Arnold and Woodburn all look the part, while the whisper is that others may be congregating behind. Both the U23s and U18s are flying high, with the likes of Yan Dhanda and Rhian Brewster making waves. The Reds are always well-represented in England under-age squads.

Testament, then, to the work being done up in L33. Liverpool, from bottom to top, is starting to feel like a club again. Long may it continue.