With their place in the Champions League final secure, Jurgen Klopp took his Liverpool players over to the far corner of the Stadio Olimpico. There, in front of the thousands who had made the trip from Merseyside to Rome, there was a moment of mutual appreciation. This was Liverpool’s team and these were their people. Of course, it’s not unusual for fans to hail their team after such a success, but there is more to the connection currently felt between Liverpool’s fanbase and the players. It goes against the grain of detachment felt across the modern game and the connection might be about to get deeper as a golden generation of homegrown talent comes through at Anfield. While Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane et al have drawn the adulation of the masses over the past season or so, there is a groundswell of exciting youngsters on the brink of a first-team breakthrough at Liverpool. Juanma Garcia, Harry Wilson, Kamil Grabara, Sheyi Ojo, Marko Grujic, Rhian Brewster and Ben Woodburn… these are just some of the names we should get familiar with. This summer will be a defining one for Klopp in his time as Liverpool manager. The Reds are expected to build on their success last season. Many predict that they will now challenge Man City for Premier League supremacy, but before they can do that a number of holes must be plugged over the next few weeks. They’ve already started on this, signing Brazilian midfielder Fabinho from Monaco for £43.7 million, with Lyon playmaker Nabil Fekir also expected to sign in the not-so-distant future. But despite these big name, big money deals, Liverpool cannot continue to spend. They are not the Galacticos. There won’t be all that much left in the pot after the double signing of Fabinho and Fekir, but there will still be squad deficiencies to address, and this is where Klopp must make use of his young prospects from the academy. They could be the key to a Liverpool title challenge next season. Woodburn is perhaps the most well-known of the up and coming crop at Liverpool, the vanguard of their next generation, having burst into the mainstream consciousness, not for his club side, but for his national side, scoring a stunning goal in a crucial World Cup qualifier on his Wales debut last year. Then there’s Ojo, the 20-year-old winger who helped Fulham win promotion to the Premier League last season. Liverpool are reportedly looking for players to add depth in the wide areas, with speculation linking the Reds with moves for Ousmane Dembele and Julian Brandt among others, so Ojo would fit the bill in that sense. Juanma is another who could provide depth, giving Liverpool another option at left back, while 19-year-old goalkeeper Kamil Grabara will surely enter Klopp’s thinking given how short he is of top level shot-stoppers. The Pole might not fill the number one jersey next season, but, following a common theme, he would be a solid deputy to whoever is signed. There is much excitement over Brewster, who clinched the Golden Boot for England at last summer’s U-17 World Cup, while the case of Grujic is a curious one. At 22, he is older than most of the aforementioned prospects, impressing on loan at Cardiff City last summer to such an extent that he earned a place in Serbia’s World Cup squad. Grujic has become something of a forgotten man at Anfield, but there is still time for him to make an impression.