On a cold September night back in 2012, Brendan Rodgers named a highly inexperienced side for his side's League Cup match against West Bromwich Albion.
The Northern Irish manager gave the likes of Nuri Sahin and Oussama Assaidi a much-needed run out as they secured a 2-1 victory. However, in typical Liverpool fashion, some bright academy players got much needed experience too, with the likes of Sebastian Coates, Jack Robinson, Andre Wisdom, Dani Pacheco and Samed Yesil all pulling on the red shirt at The Hawthorns.
However, the teamsheet did conjure up a surprise name, as - coincidently - a former West Brom academy star, Jerome Sinclair was named as a substitute just six days after his 16th birthday.
Birmingham-born Sinclair had previously developed into a fine striker with Liverpool's under-16 squad before making the step up to the under 18 squad just 2 months prior to his first team debut.
Sinclair enjoys successful 2014-15 season
It was a while until we heard the name Jerome Sinclair again, with injuries preventing his personal growth as a footballer. The remainder of 2012/2013 season spent in the under 18s side after his dream debut and the following season saw him miss out on substantial playing time, due to injuries.
However, Sinclair got back to his best in the season just passed, with the striker scoring 22 goals while playing across Liverpool's under 18s, 19s and 21s teams.
The season was capped off with an appearance in Steven Gerrard's charity match, where he graced the pitch with the likes of Thierry Henry and John Terry. The talented star also got the experience of going out on a short-term loan to Wigan Athletic, but he struggled to make an impact there before returning to feature for the Liverpool first-team, when he came off the bench against Chelsea.
The humble striker, who has stressed on so many occasions his gratitude for being given the chance to play for such a big club like Liverpool, famously responded to a media question of "It must be great to be able to say you played against Real Madrid?" following the clash of the two giant clubs at youth level.
His eye-catching answer of "It must be great for the Real Madrid players to be able to say they played against Liverpool" was an honourable response which made the Kop warm even more to the teenager.
But this summer has seen the speculation continue with Sinclair reportedly rejecting a new deal at Anfield amidst reports that the former West Brom striker was training with Baggies' academy coaches.
Subsequently, Sinclair was left out of Liverpool's first team tour of Asia and Australia squad, even though youngsters such as Daniel Cleary, Joe Maguire, Pedro Chirivella, Jordan Rossiter, Sheyi Ojo, Ryan Kent, and Harry Wilson were surprisingly included.
This left Sinclair free to travel to Ireland with the under-21 and under-18 squads, which included a lot of players that have far less experience, with many uncapped players at 21 level playing.
Meanwhile a lot of the more experienced players on the tour, such as Rafa Paez, Conor Randall, Jack Dunn, and Samed Yesil, were all presumably playing for their futures away from Anfield, with Randall, namely, now close to a move to Portsmouth, following a brief trial.
Speculation continued this summer, following his ambiguous tweet suggesting he was soon to leave the club. Many have suggested that his contract may be mutually terminated, leaving him free to re-join West Brom, while others predict a loan spell to Burnley is on the cards.
What should happen to the promising striker?
Sinclair is a talented player, but after recent events of 20-year-old Raheem Sterling, a soon to be world-beater, bullying a club as historic as Liverpool, which didn’t go down too fondly with the Kop faithful - any demands made by Sinclair, a player deemed to be worthy of only one appearance for Wigan who were subsequently relegated from the Championship, should not be tolerated.
The best resolution might be for the Englishman to leave the club on a season-long loan, and let him prove his worth, and then this time next year, access whether he is worth the rumoured demands he is making or not.
In comparison to Sinclair, you have the highly rated teenagers of Chelsea's Dominic Solanke and Arsenal's Chuba Akpom for Sinclair to be comparing himself with. For those that have seen the above three play, it would take an in-form Sinclair to come close to the attacking prowess that Solanke and Akpom possess.
In Sinclair's defence, you can understand why he might be fearful of being overlooked at Anfield, with Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini, Daniel Sturridge, Mario Balotelli, Divock Origi, Christian Benteke and Danny Ings, all fighting for the first-team spot that he wants.
However, there is no real reason to suggest why Sinclair cannot prove himself in the Championship, before coming back and challenging for a first team spot, when, presumably, half of the strikers currently on the club's books will be sold