Liverpool Retain Teenage Talent Joshua Abe Amid £50,000-a-Week Offer

Liverpool have won a battle they could easily have lost – and it might turn out to be one of the most important victories of their summer.

At the centre of it is Joshua Abe, a winger who doesn’t turn 16 until Friday, yet already finds himself at the heart of a Premier League tug of war and on the brink of the first-team stage.

A teenager in demand

In early June, Liverpool moved decisively. Abe was tied down on scholarship terms, with a pre-contract agreement in place for a three-year professional deal that will kick in on his 17th birthday next year, as reported by The Athletic.

That alone would mark him out as one to watch. The detail around it tells a bigger story.

Before committing to Liverpool, Abe attracted strong interest from several Premier League clubs. One of them, according to The Athletic’s Andy Jones, went as far as putting a professional contract worth up to £50,000 per week on the table – an eye-watering figure for a player who’s barely begun his academy journey.

He said no.

Instead, he chose the pathway at Liverpool, the club that brought him in, developed him, and now plan to fast-track him.

From academy pitch to US tour

The reward for that faith arrives quickly. Abe is set to join Andoni Iraola’s first-team squad on their tour of the United States, a significant step for a player whose experience above under-18 level currently stands at a single outing.

That appearance came in February, when he featured off the bench for Rob Page’s under-19 side in the UEFA Youth League against Zilina. One game, a brief taste of a higher level – yet enough, clearly, for top-flight scouts to take serious notice.

Liverpool have gone further. Abe has already been handed a first-team squad number for the 2026/27 season, another clear signal from the club about how they see his future.

This isn’t just a promising kid being kept around the edges. This is a player they expect to grow into the senior environment.

The scale of the offer – and the coup

To grasp how dramatic that rejected offer was, it helps to compare it.

Capology lists Wataru Endo – a 33-year-old midfielder, captain of Japan for several years and a seasoned international – on roughly £50,000 per week at Liverpool. The same bracket being waved at a 15-year-old who has played one game above under-18 level underlines how aggressively rivals were prepared to act.

That context turns Liverpool’s success in keeping Abe into something far more significant than a routine contract update. They have resisted serious financial muscle from within their own league and held onto a player they believe can justify that kind of attention in the years ahead.

If Abe develops as hoped, those clubs will be back. Probably with bigger numbers. Liverpool know that. They are betting that by then, the pull of Anfield and a clear route to the first team will be worth more than any early payday.

The next steps

The immediate plan is straightforward but ambitious. Abe is expected to see some first-team minutes in pre-season, using the absence of several senior players on post-World Cup breaks as a window of opportunity.

Those games in the United States will not define his career, but they will accelerate it. Training with senior professionals, travelling with the squad, feeling the rhythm of a first-team tour – for a 16-year-old winger, that is an education no amount of youth football can replicate.

After that, the climb continues. More time in the academy. Likely elevation into the under-21s over the coming months. Gradual exposure, not hype-led overpromotion.

Liverpool are wary of talking too loudly about ceilings at this age. They know the dangers of turning potential into pressure. Yet the signs are there: a huge contract rejected elsewhere, a long-term plan mapped out on Merseyside, a squad number already reserved for a future season.

For now, Abe is still just a teenager stepping into an adult world. The difference is that, this time, the spotlight has arrived early – and Liverpool have made it clear they intend to keep him under their lights.