A 'Torres' of the Future?

Sami Hyppia has tipped a rising star in the Liverpool Academy to be the "next best thing". The young fellow in question is fellow Finn who has already mad quite an impression for the Academy team.

The player in question is Finnish attacking midfielder Lauri Dalla Valle who has scored  20 goals for the under 18 team last season. More is expected of him now that he has stepped up to the reserves.

He has been linked to a 3.5million pond move to Fulham but Anfield is the place he wants to carry on learning his football. He says, "I'm really happy here. I want to play for the first team one day."

Valle had trained with Inter for a while and was tracked by Chelsea, Ajax, AC Milan and Barcelona which is quite a remarkable achievement for an 18 year old boy!

Valle added, "It's amazing to know that great teams may be interested in me. I work hard and I love playing football, but right now I want to do it only at Liverpool."

On people comparing between himself and Fernando Torres and Wayne Rooney, Valle says, "I've been compared with Fernando before, but I've never heardabout the Rooney one. They are both very talented and it's fantastic to be compared to them. I watch them on television and I hope to be as successful as they are."

Fine words coming from a boy who is a treasure in our chest.... hopefully we don't sell him off to some other team!