Liverpool secures Joshua Abe amid £50k-a-week offers
Liverpool did not just win a contract negotiation this summer. They won a statement fight over what their future is going to look like.
Joshua Abe, a winger who turns 16 on Friday, had Premier League clubs queuing for his signature. One of them, according to The Athletic, went as far as putting a professional offer on the table worth up to £50,000 per week. For a player who has barely kicked a ball above under-18 level, that is staggering money.
He turned it down and stayed at Liverpool.
A teenager Liverpool refused to lose
The Reds moved early. In June, they tied Abe down on scholarship terms, with a pre-contract agreement for a three-year professional deal that will kick in on his 17th birthday next year. It was a quiet line on a busy summer news cycle, but inside the academy it landed like a major victory.
This was not a routine piece of paperwork. This was Liverpool staring down big-money offers from domestic rivals and backing their own pathway.
Abe, described by The Athletic’s Andy Jones as one of the standout youngsters to watch on Liverpool’s pre-season tour, had “significant interest from a host of Premier League clubs”. One of those clubs was prepared to hand him the sort of wage usually reserved for seasoned internationals, not schoolboys.
He still chose Merseyside.
First-team number, first-team intent
The faith is not one-sided. Liverpool have already handed Abe a first-team squad number for the 2026/27 season, a clear signal of how they see his trajectory. That kind of planning is not done on a whim at a club of this size. It tells you exactly how highly they rate him.
Abe’s résumé at this point is modest. He has played above under-18 level just once, stepping in for Rob Page’s under-19 side in the UEFA Youth League against Zilina back in February. That is the sum total of his experience beyond his age group.
Yet somewhere in England, a Premier League rival looked at that small sample and saw enough to justify a £50,000-per-week offer. For context, that is the same weekly wage Wataru Endo reportedly earns at Liverpool, a 33-year-old midfielder with years of top-level football and the Japan captaincy behind him.
When a teenager with one under-19 outing can command the same basic pay as a veteran international, you understand why Liverpool treated this as a coup.
A tour, an opening, and a spotlight
Abe is expected to travel with Andoni Iraola’s first-team squad on their tour of the United States. The timing is perfect for him. Several senior players are on an extended break after international duty, leaving gaps in training sessions and minutes to be claimed in friendlies.
Pre-season often throws up a surprise name. A youngster who travels for experience, gets a chance in a game that looks like a gentle run-out, and suddenly finds the tempo suits him. Abe will not get a better stage at this age than an American tour with Liverpool’s seniors.
If he handles it, the club’s decision to fight off those offers will look even smarter. If he shines, the clubs who missed out will not simply walk away. They will watch, wait, and circle again.
Promise, not prophecy
It is tempting to go overboard. A teenager turns down £50,000 per week, gets a first-team number pencilled in two years ahead, and joins the senior squad on tour. The storyline almost writes itself.
But Liverpool have been careful. The plan, as outlined, is straightforward: give Abe a taste of first-team life in pre-season, then drop him back into the academy to continue his development, likely stepping more regularly into the under-21s in the coming months.
No guarantees. No shortcuts. Just a clear path.
The signs are encouraging rather than definitive. A club of Liverpool’s stature does not fend off that kind of financial firepower for a prospect they see as ordinary. They believe there is something there – something worth protecting, worth planning around, worth saying no to serious money for.
If Abe grows into the player they think he can be, this summer will be remembered as the moment Liverpool drew a line and kept their future in-house. If he does not, the story will fade.
Right now, though, a 16-year-old has just turned down a wage packet fit for a seasoned pro to bet on Liverpool’s project and his own patience.
In an era obsessed with instant rewards, that might be the most revealing detail of all.
