Liverpool have a number of young stars coming through their Academy, with some more likely to succeed long-term at Anfield than others.
Curtis Jones has been hugely influential so far this season for Liverpool, but in many ways, the Academy graduate, who looks set to be a Reds player for a long time to come, is the exception to the rule.
Ki-Jana Hoever moved away from Liverpool last summer for a fee that could reach £13.5m, despite being a player who Jurgen Klopp rated highly.
The Dutchman's decision to leave was based on his assessment of the likelihood of his first-team chances this season being high, with only a very small percentage of youth players at Premier League academies making it to the top-flight.
As it has panned out, Hoever could well have played fairly regularly in the centre-back slot that he will fill long-term for his new club, given that Liverpool have had a number of injury problems in that area.
However, it was never clear that would be the case at the time the decision to move on was made, and Hoever, over the course of the next two seasons, will be backing himself to prove it was the right switch for his career as a whole.
Rhian Brewster was another who decided to move away, signing for Sheffield United in a deal that could reach £23.5m.
Eighteen months or so older than Hoever, Brewster had reached a similar stage in his career, where the forward felt regular minutes were best attained elsewhere given the attackers at Klopp's disposal ahead of him in the pecking order.
Coming through at Anfield now are the likes of Neco Williams, not yet a fully-fledged first-teamer but very much on that path, plus Paul Glatzel and midfield duo Jake Cain and Leighton Clarkson.
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Lower down in the U18s, James Balagizi, Layton Stewart and Tyler Morton, all three of whom could be U23 regulars come the end of the season, are all incredibly highly-rated in Kirkby too.
Each of the players listed are at slightly different stages in their development as players, but at some point, the majority of them - as well as the numerous others who are also vying for a place on the first-team pitches as Kirkby - will have a big decision to make.
Hoever's fellow Dutchman Sepp van den Berg could yet become a Liverpool regular, but to use him as an example, should he move on, the Reds would turn a profit having bought him for just £1.3m from PEC Zwolle.
"He has spent a lot of time up working with the first team and the manager, working alongside some of the best centre-backs about, and he has managed to bring that to us here," U23s boss Barry Lewtas told the ECHO recently.
"His performances have been good and he is only 18 - sometimes we forget. I’ve been really pleased with him.
"Sometimes the boys move up and down but it’s like any level, you find that confidence. He is a good lad and he has been really good in training."
But at some point, he will need to decide whether that is enough to make his best pathway to the top at Liverpool, or at another club where minutes are easier to come by.
Some of the starlets will move into the Liverpool first-team, with any one of the players listed possessing the ability to do that, but for many, their route to professional, senior football will inevitably take them elsewhere.
That will be good for Liverpool in that their Academy can continue to generate money which can be reinvested in the transfer market, but also for the player in question too, who can make it at the top level, be that the Premier League or somewhere else.
So while there was surprise in some quarters at Hoever being let go during the summer, a deal of that sort will not be the last of its kind.
