“I was one of the best in the academy” – Player says Liverpool wronged him, favoured English talents

Toni Silva has accused Liverpool of overlooking him during his time at Anfield, saying the club were more interested in promoting English youngsters.

The winger spent three years with Liverpool after arriving from Benfica as a teenager. He worked his way through the youth sides and reserves before training with the senior squad.

He never made a competitive first-team appearance, though, and still feels Liverpool didn’t give him the chance his performances deserved.

“I felt I was treated unfairly”

Speaking to Portuguese newspaper A Bola, for their Thursday print edition, Silva has looked back on his unusual route to Liverpool.

Chelsea had initially tried to sign him from Benfica. That move collapsed when the Portuguese club demanded a significant fee for his registration.

Liverpool then stepped in, having already watched him during his time with Chelsea.

Silva says Benfica wanted almost €1m (£870k). Liverpool agreed to pay €500k (£435k), with the remainder dependent on him reaching the first team. But that never happened.

“I trained for three or four months with the first team and played with the reserves. I even played friendlies for the first team, but they didn’t give me opportunities,” he said.

“I felt I was treated unfairly. I was one of the best players in the academy, I was always among the top scorers, and I saw they were mainly looking at the English players.”

That is clearly something Silva still carries with him more than a decade later.

“I was much better than Sterling”

Silva’s Liverpool spell also overlapped with Raheem Sterling’s development at the club. And the Guinea-Bissau international certainly isn’t short of confidence when comparing their level at the time.

“I was much better than Sterling,” Silva said. “He even gave an interview saying that when he arrived at Liverpool, the directors told him he had a lot to learn from me, especially in terms of finishing.”

Their careers obviously went in very different directions from there. Silva left Liverpool and had spells with Northampton Town, Barnsley and Dagenham & Redbridge. A serious knee injury at Barnsley then kept him out for a year.

He also tells A Bola that losing his mother made that period considerably harder. Financial problems followed after his Liverpool exit, before he managed to rebuild his career.

Now 33, Silva has played across Europe, Africa and Asia. He’s back in Portugal this season with third tier side Sacavenense.

Yet when looking back at how things might have gone differently, his frustration with Liverpool remains.