Barrow teenager Aimee Everett has been signed on by the Women’s Super League side after working her way impressively through the junior ranks at Blackburn Rovers.
The 15-year-old England Under-16s international is following in the footsteps of Manchester City star Georgia Stanway in making the move from Rovers to one of the big guns of the WSL.
It is a dream come true for Everett, who joins a club with Scottish ace Caroline Weir, Welsh winger Natasha Harding and Dutch international Shanice van de Sanden among their numbers.
The St Bernard’s School pupil will be part of the development squad at Liverpool to start with, with the aim of earning herself a place among the first-team ranks as quickly as she can.
“I’m really happy,” said Everett of her move. “When you hear a big name like Liverpool, you know it’s a good thing.
“I wasn’t unhappy at Blackburn, but to get anywhere further, I would have to go to a bigger club, and Liverpool came along.
“It’s the next step up from Blackburn. It’s just the development squad at first, but hopefully, if I impress, I can get pushed up into the first team.
“Not everyone gets to do this, so it is exciting.”
Mum Andrea Hodgson said the whole family were delighted when they found out Liverpool wanted to sign Everett without the need for a trial, the development squad coach having seen her in action many times at his previous club Rovers.
The youngster, who is completing her GCSEs this week, was introduced to the crowd at Liverpool’s final game of the WSL Spring Series, and her proud mum said: “We’re absolutely over the moon.
“All she has ever wanted to do is play football, even when she was three. All she was interested in was her football and her goalie gloves. She was always out playing football.
“She has two older brothers (Jordan and Ryan), they were always footballing, and she has just taken it from there.
“Football has always been the sport that has stuck with her, what she wanted to do and carry on with.”
Everett – whose step-dad Ronnie Hodgson and his family are Liverpool fans – will train twice a week with Liverpool, and is grateful to the help of the Barrow AFC Performance Centre, where she will also train once a week to cut down on her travelling.
The young striker knows it will be a step up from Blackburn, and said: “It’s moving on to bigger things, so I will have to put in that extra effort and work that little bit harder.
“I think it will help make me a better player.”
As well as her new duties with Liverpool, there is the prospect of an England Under-16s training camp coming up in August.
That would be Everett’s last involvement as an under-16s player – she moves up to under-17s from next season, where there is the prospect of taking part in international competition, with a World Cup in Uruguay taking place in 2018.
Doing well at the under-16s camp would see her potentially included in the under-17s squad for a tournament in America, which would lay the groundwork for a potential involvement in those bigger events to come.
“Hopefully I can be in the squad to go to America, I just have to wait and see what happens,” Everett added.
“At under-17s they have the big competitions and it would be great to be involved in that as well.”
