Anfield Until The End 17/18

It's Been Nice Knowing You: Kevin Stewart

You'd think I would be able to give him a personalised chapter given all the time he's spent, but he actually spent less time on the pitch than Woodburn and TAA. It's sad to think he was rising, but couldn't get that extra push. Just about the opposite of the Andy Robertson story. Anyways, let's get to it. 

He started here on a free transfer from Tottenham Hotspur and totted to do good here with a two-year deal. In new signing-like fashion, he said that he dreamed of being here since he was a young child on Twitter and also totted himself to be his absolute best. 

In that 14-15 season, he was loaned to Cheltenham Town for a month and on his debut scored against League Two side Oxford United on January 3rd. The rest of the month was spent on the sidelines as he picked up an injury and was recalled back to the home club, Liverpool. In March, he was handed another one month loan to Burton Albion. On the ends of the season, final minutes actually, he scored the winner in the match which helped to promote the then League Two side as Champions of that division. 

For the 15-16 season, he was set to have, finally, a full season loan to Swindon Town. But, even this proved to be too lucky for the footballer as he suffered a medial ligament injury, about as bad as an ACL. January of 2016, he was recalled from the loan and brought to Liverpool to spend the rest of the six to nine weeks trying to get back to fitness. Not too long after being recalled, he was named on the team sheet and made his first competitive appearance for Liverpool against Exeter City in a 2-2 draw. In the 3-0 win replay, he was also present, starting in the match and putting in a good performance. On Valentine's Day, he had the last 25 minutes of the 6-0 battering of Aston Villa and got booked in the process. That was the last big showing from him.

I'm not really sure what stopped him from being better than he is now as he goes from Hull City. I guess we could put it down on the medial ligament injury, as that took away a lot of time form him and youth players desperately need time to develop and be on top of their game. But even when he was down in the lower leagues, he wasn't creating enough of an impact, so it could be argued that he really didn't have the talent to thrive here even if we gave him the time. he's turning 24 in September, meaning he's about the same age as Emre Can. There's a world of difference between the two and I'm not sure it can be put down to that injury. Some youth players just don't pan out. Leaving for £5.5m with it possibly rising to £8m, it's as if a player swap really did happen here as they left on practically the same day. 

Good luck, Kev. Tear it up in the Championship! (Will be having the Cup Raising chapter soon!)