Yan Dhanda is one of those youngsters many had a close watch on since his move to Liverpool academy from West Brom five years back. Having joined Liverpool at the age of 14, the midfielder from Birmingham went on become a part of the Liverpool U-18 and U-23 team.
The 19-year-old Yan Dhanda gained a lot of fans in India, thanks to his Indian-origin. In 2016, when Dhanda signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Reds, he became the first player of Indian descent to sign a professional contract with Liverpool.
Following the end of his two-and-a-half-year contract, Dhanda chose not to stay at Anfield as he believed that his chance of breaking into the first-team was very bleak. A few weeks back, the promising star signed for the recently relegated Swansea City on a free transfer.
Let us take a look at the reasons why Yan Dhanda will prove to be a standout performer for Swansea City in the Championship this season.
Yan Dhanda impressed Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp
According to the reports from Echo, during an interview with Jurgen Klopp last February, the gaffer had some promising words to say about Dhanda. He said,
“We could have taken Rhian Brewster or a few other guys, but Yan Dhanda and Conor Masterson are the next boys. We needed two players and we decided on Yan and Conor. I know all of the boys and that’s really cool. It’s a good group. They have worked well, really good attitude. Yan and Conor have fitted in well.”
These words coming from the boss himself, tells a lot about the caliber of the young star.
Consistent performance during his time representing Liverpool U-23 and U-18 side
During his time at Liverpool, the 19-year-old Yan Dhanda made a lot of heads turn whenever he stepped on the green lush. True to Klopp’s words, Yan Dhanda spent significant time on the pitch, striking some amazing goals to earn praise from a lot of fans who had witnessed the match live.
The young lad had an impressive run with the Reds U-18 team, where he found the back of the net 7 times in addition to 8 assists from the 20 matches he played. Following a successful stint with the U-18 side, he repeated similar success while playing for Liverpool U-23 as well. With 5 goals and one assist to his name, he headed out of Liverpool with a bang.
Ability to play different midfield positions
Yan Dhanda is known for his exploits as an attacking midfielder. In his two-and-a-half-year stay at Anfield, Dhanda got the opportunity to play all the positions in the midfield region at some point of time. He has played as a left-midfielder, right-midfielder, as an attacking midfielder, on the left-wing, central midfield and to be quite honest, he has been splendid in all these positions, scoring goals from most of these positions.
With this being said, Swansea City manager Graham Potter will surely be having a plan for Yan Dhanda to get the best out of him, which will benefit both the club as well as the youngster.
