Liverpool academy consultant Steve Heighway thinks Reds manager Jurgen Klopp rates Jon Flanagan highly as the German named the youngster as captain in a Premier League game in March.

The right-back, who faced a lengthy spell on the sidelines after picking up a knee injury on his England debut against Ecuador in a friendly in June 2014, returned to action in a 3-0 win over Exeter City in an FA Cup game in January.




Flanagan has since made six appearances in all competitions for Liverpool, including captaining the Merseyside giants in a 3-2 league loss to Southampton.

The 23-year-old also signed a new three-year deal with Liverpool in March which will keep him at Anfield until the summer of 2019.
 


And Heighway, who has watched Flannagan at close quarters, insisted that the battling defender has the toughness of yesteryear Liverpool stars such as Tommy Smith and Phil Thompson.

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“Jon was 16 when I retired for the first time”, Heighway told LFC TV.

“He was in the Under-16s so he probably was 15, but he had already been here for three to four years. So you could see the type of player Jon was, there’s that Liverpool connection, that toughness.

“The kind of things the Tommy Smiths and Phil Thompsons had, Jon Flanagan has those in abundance.

“You pick somebody because you think he’s a good player but you don’t make somebody a captain if you think he’s a good player.

“You make someone a captain if you think he’s good player and has other qualities and that’s a hell of a thing.”

Flanagan, who is a product of Liverpool’s academy, made his first team debut for the club in 2011.