Liverpool youth player Yan Dhanda 'wants to emulate Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho'

Liverpool youngster Yan Dhanda is confident of earning a promotion into the Anfield first team and claims he wants to emulate Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling.

The 15 year old is currently playing with the Reds' Under-18 side in the Uefa Youth League and is already eyeing promotion into Brendan Rodgers side after training with the main squad after the Champions League group game against Real Madrid.

And that taste of playing alongside Liverpool's elite, having joined from West Bromwich Albion last summer, has led to Dhanda to dream of promotion to the first team. The midfielder hopes that modelling his game on Coutinho and Sterling can help him make the step-up required.

"I would like to play like Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling," he told Bleacher Report. "I like their playing style.

"It was good being around the players. The academy director told me before we left for Madrid that I would be staying an extra day after the game to train with the first team. It was like a dream, didn't seem real.

"The coaches really work with you to develop you here and the environment is all geared towards supporting players on an individual basis.

"In my opinion at West Brom, a lot of emphasis was around winning tournaments but at Liverpool it's about producing players who would be good enough for the first team."

Despite being an England Under-17 international, Dhanda's Indian heritage could make him the first player from the Asian nation to play for Liverpool should his career continue on an upward trajectory.

Dhanda burst on to the scene aged 11 when while on the books of West Brom he won a trial at Chelsea but was unable to attend due to other commitments with the Baggies.

Now learning his trade in the red of Liverpool, Dhanda will hope to follow in the footsteps of the likes of other academy players such as Jordan Rossiter and Jordan Williams, both of whom have made their debuts this season.