{"id":235067,"date":"2025-10-31T01:49:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T01:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/235067\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T01:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T01:49:14","slug":"liverpool-striker-stepping-out-of-famous-fathers-footsteps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/235067\/","title":{"rendered":"Liverpool Striker Stepping Out of Famous Father’s Footsteps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool\u2019s Keyrol Figueroa has had perhaps the most important week of his career yet, as he seeks to follow in his father\u2019s footsteps to become a Premier League<\/a> regular.<\/p>\n

Make no mistake, this meant a lot to Figueroa. <\/p>\n

With a rain-soaked shirt sticking to his chest in the stormy surroundings of the Kirkby academy, Liverpool\u2019s young striker let out a roar after scoring the U21s\u2019 third against Everton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

At first, the reaction may have seemed slightly over the top. However, upon speaking to Figueroa after his mini-derby hat-trick, it becomes apparent this had been a cry formed from life on the periphery.<\/p>\n

A humble figure, the 19-year-old beams with his match ball as he declares the day \u201ca proud moment\u201d and receives congratulations from Trey Nyoni<\/a>, who has come across from the first team to watch.<\/p>\n

\"KIRKBY,<\/p>\n

While his talent is obvious, Figueroa\u2019s path to this point in his young career hasn\u2019t been all plain sailing. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been hard, especially with the situation that\u2019s been going on with me not playing sometimes and it\u2019s questionable what my future\u2019s going to be like,\u201d the forward tells This Is Anfield.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I take every moment in my stride and I\u2019m so proud that I got this moment and the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The beneficiary from injuries<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

Figueroa started only four U21s league matches last season, scoring just two goals in all competitions.<\/p>\n

With Jayden Danns<\/a> returning from injury and the highly-rated Will Wright<\/a> arriving, he was left pondering his future over the summer.<\/p>\n

However, injuries to the two main strikers have left Figueroa with a chance to make his mark \u2013 something he has certainly accomplished in the past week. <\/p>\n

A good performance in Liverpool U19s\u2019 5-4 win over Eintracht Frankfurt was followed by a derby hat-trick as the young Reds beat Everton<\/a> 4-1 on Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday he was named in the first-team squad for the first time in any capacity for the Carabao Cup<\/a> defeat to Crystal Palace<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

New U21s head coach Rob Page has boosted Figueroa\u2019s confidence considerably, as the youngster explains: \u201cThe manager has given me a lot of belief in showing my talent and it\u2019s a proud moment. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I came in, I had a lot of different solutions that I needed and Rob gave me them. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe has seen my potential and he spoke to me and said that I\u2019m good on the ball, I\u2019m a fantastic striker, we\u2019ll have everyone else work for that, and just get yourself in the box and be that lethal, ruthless No. 9.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe always says in the meetings about having energy, being disciplined and being ruthless. Those are his core anchors and he tells us all the time that\u2019s what we need before the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

Page admits that it has been difficult for Figueroa who has had to wait for his chance.<\/p>\n

\"KIRKBY,<\/p>\n

\u201c[Danns took his spot] at the start of the season off the back of Figgy having a great pre-season and probably being the top scorer in the pre-season,\u201d the former Wales boss says.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it is hard for a player, especially a centre-forward, when you are in a rich vein of form like he was after pre-season, and then you don\u2019t get the jersey to start the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll I can say to that is his reaction has been exemplary. Even now, he is crediting the other players and his parents for his hat-trick. He is such a humble guy and that is what you want to work with.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause of that, he has got a chance of making a great career in the game. He\u2019s a great lad and we have got some good boys in there as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The influence of his father, Maynor Figueroa<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

As Page mentions, Figueroa is always quick to credit his parents when asked about the influential figures in his life.<\/p>\n

He has previously described his father, Maynor Figueroa, who won the FA Cup<\/a> with Wigan and played 181 times for Honduras, as his footballing idol.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad has given me tough nights sometimes but that is only because he knows I can be better,\u201d Keyrol reveals. <\/p>\n

\u201cToday, all my parents were here, my family. Watching them seeing my performance is a proud moment. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I scored I looked back at them and celebrated, because it wasn\u2019t just my win, it\u2019s their as well. It speaks for itself how much my family are important to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Inspired by Sturridge, Suarez and Harry Kane<\/p>\n

\"FRANKFURT,<\/p>\n

Having represented the USA at U17s, U19s and now U20s level due to him growing up there while his father played in the MLS, Figueroa is a striker with plenty of potential. <\/p>\n

A sharp finisher and good with his back to goal, the attacker has big ambition and uses some of Liverpool\u2019s best forwards as inspiration, having been at the club since he was 12 years old.<\/p>\n

He says: \u201cI like being myself but I go back to Liverpool back in the days when Daniel Sturridge<\/a> was around \u2013 obviously I watched him [and] Luis Suarez.<\/p>\n

\u201cBesides Liverpool, one of my favourite strikers is Karim Benzema. Didier Drogba, Harry Kane as well. <\/p>\n

\u201cI know that Alex (Inglethorpe, academy director) used to work with [Kane], he used to always give me tips about that so I just take on information as it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The heights that his idols reached are still some way off for Figueroa, but this past week could be a key rung on the ladder as he attempts to attract attention for a first-team call-up or January loan move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool\u2019s Keyrol Figueroa has had perhaps the most important week of his career yet, as he seeks to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235068,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,99617,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-235067","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-keyrol-figueroa","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235067","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235067"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235067\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235067"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235067"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235067"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}