Liverpool scouting 15-year-old Crusaders striker Michael Mulholland after 256-goal season

Liverpool are monitoring Michael Mulholland, a 15-year-old striker from Northern Irish side Crusaders, after the Belfast-born forward reportedly scored 256 goals in a single season, according to the Mail.

Mulholland has earned three caps for the Northern Ireland U17 youth team and has already secured a personal sponsorship deal with Adidas. Per Transfermarkt, he has made two NIFL Premiership appearances this season, scoring once in just 20 minutes of action.

The reported interest is part of a broader recruitment strategy that has seen Liverpool target young international talent at an accelerating pace. This year alone, the club have signed Mor Talla Ndiaye from Senegalese side Amitie FC, Ifeanyi Ndukwe from Austria Vienna, and Samuel Martinez from Colombia’s Atletico Nacional. More recently, they added Genk goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans and French striker Djylian N’Guessan from Saint-Etienne.

The architect of much of this activity is Matt Newberry, Liverpool’s director of global talent since 2024. The Northern Irishman began his career as an academy scout at Birmingham City before joining Anfield nearly 15 years ago, working his way through youth scouting and recruitment roles. Newberry has overseen the club’s worldwide scouting network, including the move for Brughmans, whom Liverpool beat Real Madrid to sign.

The push for younger talent comes against a backdrop of rising costs for homegrown players, a trend Liverpool’s long-serving academy director Alex Inglethorpe addressed earlier this year. “The market is more competitive now around the age of 16 than it’s ever been,” Inglethorpe said. “There’s no question that since Brexit, the landscape has changed and it’s driven up the price of young English talent.”

British clubs are prohibited from signing European players before the age of 18, but domestic signings remain possible at younger ages — a route Liverpool have used to bring in Rio Ngumoha from Chelsea and Trey Nyoni from Leicester City in recent years.

The reported pursuit of Mulholland sits alongside Liverpool’s higher-profile business. The club have committed more than £100 million each to Florian Wirtz, Alexander Isak, and Bradley Barcola in the past two years, but the focus on elite youth recruitment signals an intent to build depth from the ground up.