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Imagine the Melwood scene on a mild winter day. Liverpool is in the middle of an intense training session in which no one stops. Naby Keïta has the ball at his feet and Curtis Jones wants to get the pass. He is in acres of space and is pleading with Keïta:
“Naby, boy Naby, boy Naby”.
The session ends and suddenly Jones is flanked by peers from different cultures, all wanting to know why he put the word “boy” at the end of Keïta’s name.
The term may need some context with those who are unfamiliar. The word boy Usually used as a term of man-to-man familiarity and friendship in Liverpool, something that goes with a name when greeting someone or demanding their attention. Instead of calling someone by their real name, Scousers will refer to their friends as boy. It is a colloquialism not exclusive to Liverpool, but very born and present in its urban dictionary.
Of course, the term has stuck with Keïta, and there’s nothing to be said for this is how it came about, though you certainly wouldn’t endorse it. If it shows something, it is that the influence of the locality in any dressing room is as fundamental as it has always been. We know there has always been a penchant for having players who can explain what certain games mean to fans, but it goes much deeper.
There has to be a sense of the city in every way, to know what’s going on (another Scouse-ism) on the streets, as well as in the stands, if he’s really going to invest in playing for the people he represents. For that reason, someone like Jones’ influence in Liverpool, even at his tender age, should not be lost to anyone. He is the squad’s baby, but one who will undoubtedly bring the wit, attitude, and effervescence of the city to the club with him every day.
(Image: (Photo by Clive Brunskill / Getty Images))
Trent Alexander-Arnold will also do the same, although he is apparently a bit more reserved. The couple is, in many ways, a modern Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, or even a Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler. With a growing cosmopolitan form in Liverpool over the years, ensuring that the sense of local grounding has been critical.
It doesn’t always serve as a positive. Gerrard’s hectic times in Liverpool were undoubtedly exacerbated by the fact that he was a local player who carried the club and the city behind him. Similarly, Fowler was sometimes caught up in local controversy over who he was and where he spent his time. Nothing suggests that Jones or Alexnder-Arnold would follow a similar path, but there are history lessons that serve as a precaution.
This is undoubtedly a team of players who do not need to remember what it means to play for this club, we have more than enough evidence to see that from Andy Robertson to Adrián this is a team that understands. However, what Jones and Alexander-Arnold bring is the very essence of what it means to be a young man in this city right now.
From FIFA to wheelies on bicycles, there is a certain charm and challenge that grows up in the streets of Liverpool and is present in his youth. All the players mentioned above had it, and every fan who has walked the same path can relate to it. If “boy” is a term of affection in the echo chamber of Liverpool’s streets and walkways, it’s not just Naby Keita who should get used to the word in the coming weeks in case a 30-year-old curse is broken.
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