Jerome Sinclair, Liverpool’s youngest ever player, is without a club at the age of 27 and is now the owner of a fried chicken shop. At the age of 16 years and six days, Sinclair became Liverpool’s youngest ever player when he appeared for the club against West Brom in a League Cup tie back in September 2012.
“A dream come true,” Sinclair said afterward. Liverpool boss at the time, Brendan Rodgers, added: “Now the hard work begins for Jerome. It’s no good being the youngest player and then drifting out of it. Thankfully, he’s a good kid and he’s really focused. That hunger to learn can take you a long way.” Sinclair had actually spent much of his youth career at West Brom before Liverpool snapped him up.
“All the top clubs wanted Jerome, and we were delighted that we were able to get him when he was 14,” Frank McParland, who was Liverpool’s academy director at the time, said. More than 10 years later, Sinclair is still Liverpool’s youngest ever player, but his career now looks close to its end at just 27 years old.
Liverpool’s youngest ever players | Date | Age at the time |
|---|---|---|
1. Jerome Sinclair | Sep 26, 2012 | 16 years 06 days |
2. Harvey Elliott | Sep 25, 2019 | 16 years 05 months 21 days |
3. Jack Robinson | May 9, 2010 | 16 years 08 months 07 days |
4. James Norris | Dec 17, 2019 | 16 years 08 months 13 days |
5. Kaide Gordon | Sep 21, 2021 | 16 years 11 months 16 days |
6. Ki-Jana Hoever | Jan 7, 2019 | 16 years 11 months 20 days |
7. Ben Doak | Nov 9, 2022 | 16 years 11 months 29 days |
8. Ben Woodburn | Nov 26, 2016 | 17 years 01 month 11 days |
9. Tom Hill | Dec 17, 2019 | 17 years 02 months 04 days |
10. Raheem Sterling | Mar 24, 2012 | 17 years 03 months 16 days |
What happened to Jerome Sinclair
A tale that depicts a downward spiral
Sinclair’s story is one of unfilled potential. He only played four more times for the club – two of them under recently-departed manager, Jurgen Klopp. In fact, he has a first-team goal under his belt, having scored for Liverpool against Exeter City in the FA Cup. He made his Premier League debut away to Chelsea at the end of the 2014/15 season, before appearing in Steven Gerrard’s final appearance at Anfield against Crystal Palace.
He has previously thanked Gerrard for putting him under his wing – and allowing him to play with his idol, Thierry Henry. “There were some huge names in that dressing room, like (Luis) Suarez and (Philippe) Coutinho but Gerrard was the best — there would be moments in training when he’d do something with the ball and people would just stop and clap,” Sinclair said in 2020.
“Gerrard was very good with me and made me feel involved. He asked me to play in his all-star charity game against Jamie Carragher’s team. I started in the front three with Thierry Henry and Ryan Babel. I can never thank him enough for giving me the opportunity to meet my idol.”
It looked as though Sinclair would have a long and successful career at Anfield, but it ended unceremoniously. He teamed up with Aidy Ward – the agent responsible for Raheem Sterling’s exit from Liverpool – and Sinclair turned down a contract offer from Liverpool despite his young age.
Jurgen Klopp on Jerome Sinclair
Sinclair didn’t live up to the potential Klopp had envisaged
“What we try to do is create a situation where younger players know it is not important to get the highest wages in your life in the first year of your career, Jurgen Klopp said in 2015. “It is more important to get the real education and that is what we want to try. For this you always need a lot of things. I like Jerome. He is a real talent and if he wants to stay with us, no problem. Absolutely no problem.
If not, we cannot force it. But I know nothing about this situation. I am fine with the situation, but first of all, you need young players who want to learn. If we can create a situation where they feel it is the right place to learn then everything is good. That is what we try for next season. We cannot do it now. It is too big a rush, leaving on loan, coming back, that is what we want to do for the future.
As long as he is here he is a Liverpool player, absolutely no problem, but I cannot make decisions for them. We can only offer things and, first, we need to offer education and training and the possibility to work together with the best coaches and best players we have. Then it is up to the players.”
He would leave Liverpool for Watford in January 2016 and his career wouldn’t recover. He failed to kick on at Vicarage Road and only made a handful of appearances before loan spells at various clubs in England (Sunderland, Birmingham and Oxford), as well as at VVV-Venlo in the Netherlands and CSKA Sofia in Russia. He was eventually released from his Watford contract in 2021 and hasn’t found a new club since, despite being just 27 years old.
Sinclair’s best bet for first-team football came when rejoined Oxford on a trial basis during the 2022–23 pre-season, playing his first match in over a year in a friendly against Banbury United. However, he did not earn a contract, and by January 2023, he appeared to have stepped away from football to focus on other business interests. Ultimately, he made 110 appearances in total following on from his debut at Liverpool in 2012, which renders regretful reading for those who believed in him at such a young age.
Jerome Sinclair’s senior career | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|
Liverpool (2012-2016) | 2 | 0 |
Wigan Athletic – Loan (2015) | 1 | 0 |
Watford (2016-2021) | 9 | 0 |
Birmingham City – Loan (2017) | 5 | 0 |
Sunderland – Loan (2018) | 13 | 1 |
Oxford United – Loan (2019) | 16 | 4 |
VVV-Venlo – Loan (2019-2020) | 23 | 0 |
CSKA Sofia – Loan (2020-2021) | 18 | 1 |
Total | 87 | 6 |
(Club domestic league appearances and goals) | ||
Sinclair is now the owner of a fried chicken shop
The new business venture started back in 2022 
Sinclair is now the owner of a Morley’s shop – a chain of fried chicken takeaways across the UK. Last July, Morley’s tweeted: “Welcome to the Morley’s family Jerome Sinclair.” They confirmed to the Athletic it was, indeed, that Jerome Sinclair, and that he was the current owner of their Birmingham franchise.
It’s unknown whether he will return to football. Karl Robinson, who managed Sinclair at Oxford, wished him the best of luck with his business venture. “I know he’s based in Birmingham, and he’s got a good business head on him. He’s got interests outside of football. I just want him to be happy. Whether it’s playing football again or not, as long as he’s happy, that’s all that matters.”
Reflecting on his Playing Days
Sinclair has since been keen to open up on the mental side of the game
Football is a game played with the brain as much as it is with the feet, with confidence making up a big part of the sport. Speaking on Football 25/8 on YouTube in 2020, the forward said of his experience in the game:
“In terms of my experience as a footballer, getting so emotionally invested when things go well or don’t go well affects you so much. You can’t let things get to you so much. You can’t get too low or too high at certain points.”
Addressing his days at Liverpool, the forward admitted that the competition for places was fierce, continuing: “There were a lot of factors. Looking at the players they had there, it was always going to be difficult for a young striker to play regularly. People who came after me (through the academy ranks) found the same thing.
“I was coming to the end of my contract. It just felt right at that time, with the options I had on the table. I did it with a heavy heart but at that moment I think it was right to make the decision I did. I don’t have a bad word to say about Liverpool.”