Calvin Ramsay has compared his style to Trent Alexander-Arnold but it’s not just the way he plays that draws similarities, but also his route to the right-back role.
Ramsay became Liverpool’s latest addition earlier this month, joining from Aberdeen and adding his name alongside Fabio Carvalho and Darwin Nunez as a summer arrival.
The 18-year-old lands at Anfield with plenty of admirers and shared his qualities as a player as one that “likes to attack,” adding he “like to get shots away, both feet, cutting inside, going down the line.”
It’s a profile that is similar to that of Alexander-Arnold, who Ramsay has admitted to looking up to and now is eager to learn directly from.
But his journey to the right-back position is very similar to that of Alexander-Arnold’s, with both starting in midfield and subsequently making the shift to the defensive role and carving out a senior career with their boyhood club.
Alexander-Arnold’s transition was a little later than Ramsay’s, with the Scot making the move a few years earlier at the age of 14, with a view on bypassing a saturated position.
In an interview with The Athletic, Aberdeen’s academy director, Gavin Levey, discussed the switch and how Ramsay diligently worked to be the best, even if right-back was not a position he initially enjoyed.
“There was maybe three boys that were within the older group that were probably deemed slightly ahead of him in in different areas of the pitch,” Levey said.
“And he hated the fact that he wasn’t at where they were. And he just worked and worked and worked to get there.”
It creates an interesting parallel in the stories of both Alexander-Arnold and Ramsay, but that’s not to establish a comparison but rather an insight into the player they have each become.
“I started off in midfield, coming through Aberdeen’s academy, then I got moved out to right-back,” told LFCTV on his arrival at the club. “I can play centre-mid, right-back, right wing. Anywhere really.”
Only Rangers’ James Tavernier (100) produced more chances from defence than Ramsay (42) in the Scottish Premiership last season, while Alexander-Arnold created the most (90) in the Premier League.
It ensures the development Ramsay is to undertake at Liverpool is to be an exciting one and in the words of the 18-year-old himself, “If I can be half the player of him I will be laughing.”
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