He may have grown up idolising Fernando Torres but, behind the scenes at Liverpool, the seemingly Leeds United-bound starlet was earning comparisons with another Anfield icon.
And considering he is a centre-forward by trade, one who wears the number nine shirt for Liverpool’s youth sides partly in tribute to a certain Spaniard, it may come as a surprise to learn that the player Oakley Cannonier was likened to in the Reds’ youth ranks was not, in fact, a penalty-box troubling striker.
But, instead, one of the finest attacking midfielders of his generation. Albeit one who’s career – like that of Torres post-Liverpool – dwindled pretty dramatically.
Philippe Coutinho may never have ascended the heights he was supposed to when he joined Barcelona for a staggering £142 million, becoming the second-most expensive player in football history back in 2018. Though while his flame may have burned bright but brief, few playmakers in the modern Premier League era lit up English football quite like him.
Coutinho, the ultimate pocket rocket, was a nuclear bomb of a footballer housed in rather unassuming casing.
At around 5ft 5ins, Cannonier – the Liverpool starlet joins Leeds United on an initial trial period – shares Coutinho’s combination of a diminutive frame and deadly accuracy. Take his hat-trick against Ajax in a thumping 4-0 win for Liverpool’s Under-19s in the UEFA Youth League a few years ago.
Leeds United trialist Oakley Cannonier likened to Philippe Coutinho at Liverpool
Cannonier’s three goals were cool finishes inside the penalty area but those Coutinho comparisons make sense when you see what the teenager did with eight minutes on the clock. Dropping deep, Cannonier picked up the ball outside of the penalty area, shifted it onto his left foot and drilled a shot towards the goal.
The Ajax goalkeeper may have succeeded in tipping it around the post – one of the few times he got the better of a rampant Cannonier that day – but it was the sort of effort reminiscent of Coutinho’s trademark finisher move.
According to The Athletic, some members of the Liverpool staff saw shades of Coutinho in Cannonier’s ‘slight frame, his low centre of gravity, nifty feet and deadly finish’.
Attributes which may pave the way for a return to West Yorkshire for the Leeds-born 20-year-old.
According to reports, Leeds United have taken Oakley Cannonier on trial for the week. He even played as the Under-21s were defeated 2-1 by West Ham over the weekend. A local lad who crossed the Pennines in an attempt to make his name, Liverpool’s fearsome array of attacking talent could yet see Cannonier pick up where he left off when swapping Yorkshire for Merseyside back in 2015.
Daniel Farke has shown admirable faith in Mateo Joseph, and perhaps Cannonier is hoping the same faith will be shown in him.
This is an opportunity Leeds have been waiting for, meanwhile, ever since Cannonier said his goodbyes nearly a decade ago.
Leeds tried to bring Cannonier back to Yorkshire in 2020
The Athletic adds that Cannonier, who captained England at Under-16 level, was offered a return to Thorp Arch before signing his first professional contract back in 2020. Four years on, and with one of the most talented young strikers in the local game looking to swap the sterilised world of youth-team football for the men’s game, his breakthrough could yet come in white rather than red.
Cannonier, by his own admission, started out in the sort of advanced playmaking role Coutinho once made his own under Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool.
A tally of 33 goals in 37 games for the club’s Under-18 side, however, suggests that a future awaits him as a number nine rather than a number ten.
“I used to assist more. I used to be a number ten,” Cannonier said a few years back. “Dropping deep and stuff – what I do now as a striker – has helped me. I don’t mind putting a shift in for the other boys and try to set them up, and not just think about myself.
“When I was younger, I used to love Torres. But then after he went to Chelsea, it was [Luis] Suarez. I loved those two. They were just goalscorers and they were always the decisive players and I wanted to be like that.
“I don’t like not scoring [in games], to be honest! I don’t speak to anyone. It’s not selfish but I put pressure on myself to score. I just want to be the best I can.”
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