Liverpool appear to have a genuine future World Cup star. That’s according to one group of experts.

Liverpool have set about signing some of the greatest young talents in world football over the last few years. Depending on what classifies ‘young’, Florian Wirtz may be the crown jewel of that as one of the biggest talents going.

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But if 23 is too old, then maybe Rio Ngumoha is the biggest. He was in incredible demand when Liverpool snatched him from Chelsea in 2024 and he’s set to make a massive impact next season – potentially with England, too.

One area of note, though, is centre-back. Liverpool are preparing for the post-Virgil van Dijk era, one which really does feel quite scary.

Van Dijk is 35 but remains the star centre-back at Anfield. There are few better in the world and certainly no one at Liverpool comes particularly close to him after Ibrahima Konate left.

Their plan can be seen in their signings. Giovanni Leoni joined from Parma last summer as an outrageously talented teenage centre-back. They followed that in January by completing a deal for Jeremy Jacquet, who has now formally joined the club.

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But there’s another potentially-elite centre-back who arrived this year. Mor Talla Ndiaye went into the Under 21 setup back in January, joining from Amitié FC in Senegal.

The future for him looks incredibly bright, too. Ndiaye has now been given the backing of data group Eyeball, who consider themselves specialists in young talent identification.

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An article by the Athletic outlines some of their ‘success’ stories at the World Cup this summer. Ibrahim Mbaye, Gessime Yassine, and Bazoumana Toure were all picked out as future stars a short while ago – and now they’ve picked out an XI who could be breakout stars by the time the next World Cup rolls around.

The notable name as far as Liverpool are concerned is Ndiaye, who takes up a place at centre-back alongside Elie Mbavu from Genk. It seems the Reds’ 18-year-old talent is considered one to watch over the next four years.

That, of course, would largely mean him breaking in at Liverpool and becoming something of a regular by the time he’s 22. It won’t be easy – not with Jacquet and Leoni to contend with.

But those are now the standards at Liverpool. The best of the best young talents have been signed and now it’s time to see who can fulfill that potential.