Column: LFC's teenage kicks

Ah, to be 17 again.

Whatever you get up to at that age can shape just who you are and what you do when you get that little bit older, and Liverpool can only hope that is the case with a group of very talented teenagers.

In the beginning - well, the beginning of the season anyway - there was Raheem Sterling.

Perhaps he was taken for granted at the time, but history will surely view what the winger achieved in the first half of this campaign as a staggering feat.

From being a 17-year-old with no senior starts to his name until the then reigning champions came to Anfield last August, Sterling went on to feature in 22 consecutive Barclays Premier League games, score his first two Reds goals, sign a new long-term contract and win full international honours - all in the space of five whirlwind months.

Between that Manchester City game and mid-December, when he turned 18, Sterling started 16 Premier League games in a row and completed 90 minutes in all but two of them. What other 17-year-old was doing that at the very highest level at that time? How many have ever done it?

Following such a fast start to what will surely be a long, rewarding career at the top, it was inevitable and certainly right that Sterling should have a period out of the spotlight in the months that followed. As it happened, his season ended in the treatment room.

He'll be back ready and raring to go next season, when he might just be joined in the squad by another couple of talented 17-year-olds with the world at their feet.

Last Sunday at Anfield was always going to be about remembering the past and the immense role that Jamie Carragher played in shaping that, but there was a glimpse of the future on show too.

Just as Kenny Dalglish did with Sterling at the tail end of the 2011-12 season, Brendan Rodgers entrusted Jordon Ibe with a position in the first team. And like Sterling, Ibe did not waste his chance.

Born on the same day as Liverpool's No.31 but exactly a year later, Ibe has no shortage of role models as he looks to make his way in the game. He's already got pretty far in those attempts, of course.

There aren't many footballers who can speak of scoring their first senior goal at the age of just 15 years old, as Ibe did for Wycombe Wanderers in a League One match against Sheffield Wednesday in October 2011. He ran to his family in the stands to celebrate and was promptly booked by a referee who obviously doesn't believe in sentiment.

Ibe will be viewing Sterling as inspiration as he bids for more and more first-team appearances in the coming season, while defender Lloyd Jones will be encouraged by both.

Although stationed in a very different position on the field, the 17-year-old Welsh centre-back - who was an unused substitute in the win at Fulham - will view both Sterling and Ibe's progress and vow to achieve the same himself. His mates will have become his mentors.

The new campaign could bring that first senior appearance for the towering defender, who might just become the newest member of Liverpool's growing 17 club.

Ah, to be 17 again eh?

You can follow Mark on Twitter: @Mark_Jones86.