Liverpool secures future of teenage winger Joshua Abe

Liverpool did not just win a contract negotiation this summer. They won a tug of war for the future of one of their most coveted academy prospects.

Joshua Abe, who turns 16 on Friday, has committed his next few years to the club despite a Premier League rival putting an eye‑watering offer on the table – a professional deal worth up to £50,000 per week, according to The Athletic. For a player with only one appearance above under-18 level, that figure says everything about the scale of the scramble around him.

A major decision before his 16th birthday

In early June, Liverpool moved decisively. They tied Abe down on scholarship terms and agreed a pre-contract for a three-year professional deal, which will kick in on his 17th birthday next year. It was a statement move from a club determined not to let another elite talent slip away.

Abe, a winger with pace and directness, had drawn “significant interest” from several Premier League clubs, Andy Jones of The Athletic reported. One of those clubs pushed hard, dangling that £50,000-a-week contract in front of a teenager who has barely begun his journey in the youth ranks.

He said no.

He chose Liverpool’s pathway instead, and the club’s response has underlined how seriously they rate him. Abe has already been handed a first-team squad number for the 2026/27 season – a clear marker of intent rather than a token gesture.

From Youth League cameo to first-team tour

The numbers make his situation even more striking. Abe’s only outing above under-18 level so far came in February, when he came off the bench for Rob Page’s under-19 side in the UEFA Youth League against Zilina. One substitute appearance, and yet the market moved as if he were already established.

That is why the £50,000-a-week offer jumps off the page. At Liverpool, that is the same reported wage earned by Wataru Endo, a 33-year-old midfielder with years of top-level experience and the captaincy of Japan on his CV. To see a teenager bracketed financially with a seasoned international underlines just how aggressively rivals were prepared to act.

Liverpool’s answer has been to fast-track his exposure. Abe is set to join Andoni Iraola’s first-team squad on their tour of the United States, with senior regulars still on a post-World Cup break. Opportunity has opened up, and Abe is one of the youngsters being pushed towards it.

Pre-season minutes, even in friendlies, can change a young player’s trajectory. A sharp cameo in front of American crowds, a few training sessions where he catches the eye – that is how reputations inside a club can accelerate almost overnight.

A coup today, a test tomorrow

For Liverpool, keeping Abe is already a coup. They have resisted big-money temptation from elsewhere and persuaded a highly rated teenager that his development is best served on Merseyside.

The battle, though, will not end here. If Abe progresses as those inside the club believe he can, the same heavyweight Premier League names who came calling this summer will be back, only louder and richer. That is the reality of the modern academy landscape.

For now, the plan is clear. Give him a taste of first-team life in pre-season. Let him continue to grow in the academy. Ease him towards the under-21s over the coming months. No shortcuts, no grand declarations, just a carefully managed climb.

At his age, restraint in the rhetoric matters. The signs, though, are hard to ignore: a huge contract rejected elsewhere, a three-year pro deal lined up, a first-team squad number already assigned, a place on the plane to America.

Liverpool have backed Joshua Abe. More importantly, Joshua Abe has backed Liverpool. The next few years will reveal whether this summer’s decision becomes just a smart piece of business – or the moment a major Anfield career quietly began.