Whether you believe Mexican sources, who were basically claiming Gilberto Mora was bound for Liverpool earlier this week, or English sources who were merely claiming that the Reds were very interested in the Mexican, the fact of the matter is that he is one to watch.
Either way, Mora turns 18-years-old next week and naturally a whole host of clubs will be vying for his services.
Liverpool by the looks of things will be one of the leading candidates. Which is not a surprise, the club’s North American and South American scouts have been keeping their eyes on Mora ever since he broke onto the scene as a 16-year-old.
There is an abundance of data on the youngster and on top of that countless amounts of background information and live scouting reports.
With Julian Ward having become Liverpool’s new sporting director, the Reds will be even more active in the youth market.
Ward is an advocate of young players, and had been in a role working on bringing in players like Mor Talla Ndiaye and Ifeanyi Ndukwe among others in his previous position reporting to Richard Hughes.
What makes Mora special
The chances are unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have heard of Mora. He was part of Mexico’s squad at the World Cup. He was the youngest player to participate at the tournament, having been born in just 2008.
And he did come up against England in the knock-out stages as well.
Let’s talk about the factors as to why Mora is rated so highly. Looking at him, he wouldn’t immediately stand-out.
Mora is a very diminutive figure. He’s just 5’6 tall standing at 1.68 metres. He weighs 62kg, which makes him very slight of frame.
And yet, he’s been playing senior football in Mexico at club and international level since he was 16-years-old, close to two years at this point.
Why?
The answer is that he’s got an incredible technical ability combined with a very high football IQ.
Let’s give you a demonstration.
Here he is receiving the ball with his back to goal in his own half, surrounded by three opponents.
You’d expect most players to lose the ball in this situation. The best case scenario for an average player would be to win a throw-in.
But Mora is not an average player.
He invites the pressure.
And then with a drop of the shoulder, he drives forward, taking two of his opponents completely out of the game.
Mora drives the ball forward, a fourth player presses to close him down.
He pushes past both of them.
And there he is running through.
Look how much space he has created from this seemingly impossible situation, while also taking out almost half of the opposition’s outfield players all in a couple of seconds.
