Liverpool academy manager Alex Inglethorpe has spoken for the first time about Bobby Duncan's move from the Reds to Fiorentina in the summer.
Forward Duncan, 18, who is Steven Gerrard's cousin, was prolific for the club's youth sides last season, and helped the Reds win the FA Youth Cup for the first time in 12 years.
He featured in Jurgen Klopp's first team over their pre-season friendlies in the summer, but all almighty row broke out shortly before the closure of the summer transfer window when Duncan's agent Saif Rubie accused the Reds, and specifically the club's sporting director Michael Edwards, of "mental bullying" in blocking potential moves away .
Liverpool denied the explosive accusations, and Duncan was soon allowed to move to Fiorentina in a £1.8million deal.
The forward has yet to feature for the Serie A club's first-team, but Inglethorpe says the Reds bear no ill-will towards him.
“What I’d say about Bobby is that we wish him well,” he told The Athletic .
“Look, not every player is necessarily going to want to wait and develop under us and we have to respect that.
“To break into elite football is going to be difficult, wherever you are. You need psychological stamina. You need to be able to put the hard yards in over a consistent period and accept the setbacks that come your way.
“Like most things in life, that creates a resilience that will help you in the future.
"I’m sure the time Mo Salah spent at Chelsea gave him a layer of that resilience. When you develop that skill of finding a way in life then you take it with you and it’s very useful.
“There are 11 shining examples of that playing at Anfield every week. They all at some point had a period in their career where they had to overcome a problem or prove doubters wrong.
"They worked hard, they didn’t quit.”
