Liverpool Signs Scotland U16 Captain Dara Jikiemi

Liverpool have landed one of Britain’s most coveted teenagers, with Scotland Under-16 captain Dara Jikiemi turning his back on Celtic to join the Anfield academy in what insiders believe could be a landmark deal for the club’s future.

The 16-year-old, long viewed as a crown jewel of Celtic’s youth system, has agreed terms with Liverpool and will arrive on Merseyside this summer on a scholarship. His first professional contract is already scheduled for January, when he turns 17. That is only the start of the plan.

Liverpool sources are convinced they have executed a piece of long-term business that could save the club millions down the line. An agreement is understood to be in place for Jikiemi to sign a new, extended professional deal when he turns 18 in January 2028, locking in one of the most highly regarded prospects in the British game for the key years of his development.

This is not a speculative punt. Inside the academy, staff talk about Jikiemi as a potential future first-teamer, and the club has already mapped out a pathway designed to carry him from Kirkby’s training pitches towards the senior squad. The message is clear: Liverpool are building around him, not simply stockpiling another youngster.

Jikiemi had the option to stay where he was adored. At Celtic, he had already emerged as one of the standout talents in their system, a player whose leadership for club and country marked him out early. Walking away from that environment is not a small decision for any teenager, never mind the captain of his national age group.

He chose Liverpool.

Coaches and scouts across the game talk about him in rare terms, as a generational profile of player for Scotland’s youth ranks. The blend of technical quality and authority at such a young age has pushed him into the elite bracket of prospects, and Liverpool have moved decisively to make sure he develops in their colours.

There is a familiar echo here. Jikiemi will follow the route taken by Ben Doak, another precocious talent who left Celtic for Liverpool as a teenager and has since forced his way into the first-team picture. Anfield has become a recurring destination for Glasgow’s brightest youngsters, and this latest move will only sharpen that narrative.

Liverpool, for their part, have been relentless in their recruitment of top-end youth from Britain and Ireland. Behind the headline signings for the senior squad sits a quieter but aggressive operation aimed at assembling an academy packed with players capable of making the jump. Within that strategy, Jikiemi is viewed as one of the standout captures of this cycle.

The short-term plan is simple: settle him, develop him, and expose him to the standards expected at a club chasing the game’s biggest prizes. The long-term ambition is bolder. There is a genuine belief within the club that he has the tools to compete for senior minutes once his game matures.

Liverpool’s decision to lock in not just his scholarship but also a future long-term professional commitment underlines that faith. Clubs do not plan four years ahead for a teenager unless they are convinced the ceiling is exceptionally high. Here, they are.

All of this comes as the new regime at Anfield looks to rebuild a side capable of contesting major honours again after a stuttering title defence under Arne Slot. The focus is not solely on the present. Jikiemi’s arrival is another sign that Liverpool intend to construct a deep reservoir of young talent ready to push the established names in the seasons ahead.

And he may not be the last. The club hold a serious and developing interest in Mexico starlet Gilberto Mora, one of the breakout youngsters of the World Cup, while Ayyoud Bouaddi is also on their radar, even as Lille prepare to demand a hefty fee for the Morocco international. Manchester United, long-time admirers of Mora, are expected to step back from what could become a complex multi-club chase, leaving Liverpool well placed if they decide to move.

For now, though, the spotlight falls on a 16-year-old swapping Glasgow for Merseyside, Celtic green for Liverpool red, and promise for expectation. If the club’s conviction is right, Dara Jikiemi will not be talked about as a clever academy coup for long. He will be judged on a much bigger stage.