Wisdom: There's more to come
Andre Wisdom has spoken of his joy after penning a new deal at Liverpool - and his belief that there are plenty more potential stars of the future where he came from.
The 18-year-old is one of the most promising youngsters on the books at Anfield and hopes to challenge for a spot at centre-back over the coming seasons.
Having captained England U19s at the European Championships this summer, the defender now has his sights on making his Liverpool debut after sitting on the bench against Northampton Town and Aston Villa during 2010-11 - but he knows there is much hard work ahead.
"It's great. I'm happy to sign a contract and hopefully I'll progress here," Wisdom told Liverpoolfc.tv
"I'm still young, I'm still learning but hopefully I can keep progressing by training with great players every day and learning from the best."
Wisdom is one of many rising stars to emerge following the appointment of Pep Segura and Rodolfo Borrell at the Academy in 2009.
Contemporaries Jack Robinson and John Flanagan have already made their mark in the first team - and Wisdom believes there are many more exciting prospects in Kirkby.
"There are loads of players to come through," he said. "Even when I watch the U13s or U10s I think, 'Bloody hell, he's good.' All of them are great lads and it's good to work with them, because you can learn off someone no matter how old they are or what position they play.
"They (Borrell, Segura and Frank McParland) are doing everything right. Last season I worked with Pep and Rodolfo and the season before that as well. They are great people to work around. They came from abroad and brought different types of play to our football. You learn a lot of different things and it's good to be in that environment."
Click the image below to watch our chat with Andre
As for his own progress, Wisdom has benefited from a policy of acclimatising Academy hopefuls to the senior environment by bringing them to Melwood for a week at a time.
"It's a very good experience to travel with the first team," he said. "When I've gone I've been on the bench and I've had the opportunity to go places - hopefully there's more of that to come if I keep working hard.
"It's good to be around people like Kenny Dalglish and Steven Gerrard because they are great people.
"Kenny always tells you things you need to improve on and things you do well. He talks to all of us and we've got a good relationship off the field as well as on it."
Wisdom sees Jamie Carragher, Rio Ferdinand and John Terry as his defensive role models, and he believes he could have no better manager than Dalglish to help him emulate his heroes.
"Kenny's a great manager and hopefully if you do the right stuff on the training ground, the opportunities come and you've got to take them with both hands," said the centre-back.
"It was great watching Flanno (John Flanagan) and Jack (Robinson) play last season. They've done well, as everyone has seen, and that's good - it inspires us to do the same."
"It'd be great (to play at Anfield in front of a capacity crowd) to take it all in and hopefully that day will come soon."
It has been a memorable summer for Wisdom after wearing the armband for England U19s and signing his new deal - and he could be forgiven for dreaming about feats of the future.
But asked where he saw himself in five years, Wisdom remained typically low key.
"Hopefully I'll be the best I can be," he said. "If I keep progressing, my path is set."