Liverpool's Irish youth

Liverpool FC will open their 2015/16 Europa League campaign against Bordeaux, and manager Brendan Rodgers has included several youth team members in his matchday squad, including Dublin born defender Daniel Cleary. Cleary made his Liverpool debut recently during preseason in a friendly against a Malaysian XI select side, and also appeared in their friendly game against Swindon. Should Cleary make his competitive debut for the reds, he will be the first Irish born academy graduate to do so since Richie Partridge.

While it's encouraging to see a young Irish player making progress, it's puzzling that he hasn't been included in an Irish underage squad for some time. U19 manager Paul Doolin last included Cleary in a squad for two friendlies against the Mexican U20 side in May 2014, but he only played the second game, a 2-0 loss in Dalymount Park.

Cleary was omitted from the following U19 squad, the elite level qualifiers against Iceland, Turkey and Serbia. Strangely, these qualifiers were the last appearance of Cleary's Liverpool teammate Alex O'Hanlon, who signed for Liverpool at 15 after being linked with a host of top clubs across Europe, including Real Madrid and Chelsea! Both Cleary and O'Hanlon have appeared regularly for Liverpool since then, including scoring in the UEFA Youth League last season, so why have they not been selected for any of the national side's underage squads?

Similarly, defender Corey Whelan has not appeared for the boys in green since being named in an Ireland squad in May 2014, for the U17 elite qualifiers against Serbia, Germany and Georgia, although it was noted on the FAI's website that he was unavailable for a recent U19 friendly against Italy in the squad announcement.

Having said that, highly rated defender Conor Masterson, who recently trained with the Liverpool first team at Melwood, captained the U17 team in the European Championship in Bulgaria last April, but the question remains why Cleary, O'Hanlon and Whelan have been excluded by the management.

The FAI will host the Scotland, Latvia and Slovenia U19 sides in the Qualifying Round group this coming November, will Whelan and Masterson be included in the Irish side?