Two of my favourite young players at Liverpool have agreed on new 3 years deals at Liverpool. Midfielder Jay Spearing and full-back Stephen Darby - both 20 - are expected to put pen to paper on the new deals later this week. It is great news that we are able to retain our own local homegrown talent as in some cases they would have decided to go to mediocre Premiership teams in the bid to get regular first team football.

It is important for us to keep our youth team players but at the same time, after they have made such a commitment from their end, it is only right for Rafa to give them a fair crack at playing in the first team.

If Alonso and / or Mascherano leave this summer then we are going to be very thin in midfield and may have to sign some replacements. But if that is the case, I would not mind seeing Spearing coming in and being the ‘new’ Mascherano of the team. He has what it takes. He has the short stocky built of Mascherano and they play a similar type of football. I am not saying Spearing is as good as Mascherano, he is probably very far from it, but I think given the opportunity he would not let us down.

As for Darby, now that we have signed Glen Johnson, Darby can not be a regular right back in the first team but if Arbeloa does leave for Real Madrid then Darby could just work his way up to fighting the ever injured Deggen for the back up right back slot. Personally I would pick Darby over Deggen any day. We have to give these guys and the rest of the youth team players a shot at the first team.

When Anfield got onto its feet on Tuesday night and started singing, “There is only one Jay Spearing!” I got goosebumps. Can you imagine how Jay himself must have felt? That must have been the greatest moment in his career. For such a young lad to get a runout on such a big stage must have raised his confidence by 100%. I have always been a fan of seeing young players breaking into our first team. Spearing is certainly one for the future and when he came onto the field for Stevie G on Tuesday he did not look lost in the middle of the field as many may have expected from such a young lad on the big stage. My hope now is that Jay can get more runouts in the first team. I can not see him being a regular yet in the first team but the more minutes he gets under his belt the better it will be.

Thank you Anfield for giving this young lad such a special tribute. “There is only on Jay Spearing”