A few eyebrows were raised at Liverpool this summer as a number of high profile young players were moved on.

The Reds had a celebrated season in the academy last year, with several prospects making the breakthrough to the senior side.

Much of the good work was done by former manager Jurgen Klopp, who was always keen to trust the Liverpool youngsters at his disposal.

However, seemingly keen to work with a smaller group, Arne Slot decided that some of the academy players would be better served elsewhere this season.

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Bobby Clark moved on permanently, with reports that Stefan Bajcetic was surprised to be told he could go on-loan to RB Salzburg, too.

Now, former Liverpool winger Steve McManaman has given some insight into what went on behind the scenes.

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McManaman is an authoritative voice to listen to on the subject of young players coming through at Liverpool.

Not only did the 59-year-old come through the ranks himself once upon a time, but earlier this year it was reported that McManaman has become a key figure around the academy once again.

The former Real Madrid man is reportedly acting in an advisory role to players and can regularly be spotted attending matches.

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And when asked about what the mood from inside the club has been since Slot’s summer arrival by ESPN FC, McManaman shared an interesting insight about what the head coach has been saying to academy staff.

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“I think there’s a distinct change between him and Jurgen Klopp just by the amount of outgoings there’s been,” said the pundit.

“Klopp relied a lot on the youngsters to a certain extent over the time where Arne Slot has literally said to the U21 and the loans manager that a lot of them can leave, a lot of them can go on loan.

“So, there’s a lot of them that have been shipped out to get experience elsewhere, which is no bad thing to be very honest, they need to play games particularly at the age of 19 and 20, and he’s got off to a good start.”

In fairness to Slot, none of the players who left Liverpool over the summer would have been likely to get too many minutes this season anyway.

The one glaring one is Clark, who was the only one of ‘Klopp’s kids’ from last season to be sold permanently.

However, there is an argument that the 19-year-old’s sale was good business for Liverpool and his value was arguably at an early peak.

Elsewhere, the likes of Luke Chambers, Owen Beck, Calvin Ramsay, Luca Stephenson, Lewis Koumas, Kaide Gordon and Ben Doak have all gone out temporarily, along with Bajectic.

While some may have been good to keep around for squad depth, we think that to a man they’ll find more use in going out on-loan and getting regular first-team experience.