He worked alongside Steven Gerrard and is now getting the plaudits from Jurgen Klopp - it's not a bad start to life in the game for East Lancashire youngster Leighton Clarkson.

The teenager scored the Reds' sixth goal, calmly stroking the ball beyond Jayson Leutwiler, in a 6-0 friendly win over Rovers at Anfield on Thursday afternoon.

Clarkson has already made his first-team debut for Liverpool, that coming in the Carabao Cup in December 2019 against Aston Villa, before making his first start the following month in an FA Cup replay against Shrewsbury Town.

A cultured midfielder, Clarkson has featured for the Reds' Under-18s and Under-23s sides this season, and was praised by Klopp for his goal in the win over Rovers, his boyhood club.

"It is just so nice. Not only the goal, but when you see the situations when he came on, I think the first pass was between the two strikers, he got it in the No.6 position where he is calm, turns and passes the ball out," Klopp told his club's website.

"We can teach the boys a lot, but they have to bring a lot. Obviously the basis for Leighton is not too bad and Jake (Cain) did really well, as well. All of the boys.

"It’s coming, it’s nice and nice they are here and training with us. The way we play helps the players to feel safe; everybody is defending and you should never feel alone in a big area where you have no chance to sort the situation. That’s what I really like and for the boys it was really good."

With Liverpool set to tie up the Premier League season in the coming weeks, a first top-flight appearance might not be too far away for Clarkson who has been with Liverpool since the age of seven after being scouted playing for Clitheroe Wolves.

On his love for Rovers, he said: "I have always been a Blackburn fan. My auntie and uncle used to take me and I have a season ticket.

"When I went into the Under 16s at Liverpool though they changed the schedule though and we played Saturday so it made it harder to get back for the matches."

Discussing working with Gerrard, he said: "I was 16 and he was the U18s coach. I remember Gerrard was doing almost like a one-to-one session after the training session with Adam Lewis.

"So when I did go up, I was doing the same thing as Adam.

"It was me, Adam and Gerrard. We were just hitting free-kicks after sessions and stuff. Ever since that moment, I've always thought in my head after my sessions, 'Try to get 10, 20 minutes just hitting free-kicks'. 

"During this lockdown, there's a nice field around mine with a few decent nets. I've been up there probably five times a week and I'm always doing free-kicks at some point.

"That's the thing with me, as weird as it sounds, I like assisting probably more than scoring. I just feel like I'm that type of player. I just love getting assists."