Sonny Aljofree's phone pinged with a message from his dad earlier this week. It was a photo of a 12-year-old Sonny at Anfield, watching his dad's former team Plymouth take on Liverpool in the FA Cup third round. It was significant because eight years on, Sonny will be back at Anfield on Saturday, this time playing rather than watching.

The on-loan Manchester United youngster will line up for Accrington Stanley against Liverpool at the same stage of the same competition. Dad Hasney, a former United academy player, will be one of "50 to 55" friends and family ready to back Sonny on the biggest day of the 20-year-old's career so far.

Aljofree, who joined Stanley on loan from United in the summer for his first taste of senior football and is thriving in Lancashire, is from a family of United fans. He was born in Plymouth, when Hasney was representing the Pilgrims in the Football League, but returned to Manchester at such an early age that he says, "All I've known is growing up in Failsworth."

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Under the guidance of Stanley boss John Doolan, he has taken his game to another level this season. He didn't get into the team until the start of October, but had started 16 successive League Two and FA Cup games until missing last weekend's trip to Colchester with swelling. He will be fit for Anfield, and a fixture he sensed was coming when he watched the third-round draw last month.

"I was sat in the kitchen, having my tea with my family and I saw Liverpool come up and I had just a funny feeling," he said. "I was like, ‘I can't play against United at Old Trafford, so the next best thing will probably be Liverpool here’.

"I said to my mum, ‘This is gonna be us here’. Obviously, it came up and all of us have just gone off and started cheering.

"It’s another chance to learn and gain valuable experience. I think everyone’s up for it, and I definitely am because as a United fan, you want to beat them, so that's what we're going there to do, hopefully."

Stanley will be supported by around 5,000 fans at Anfield, while Aljofree will have his own sizeable contingent, including his mother, Sarah, and father, Hasney.

Hasney began his career at United before leaving the club without making an appearance. He went on to play for Bolton Wanderers, Dundee United, Plymouth, Sheffield Wednesday, Oldham and Swindon Town, then returned to United as a youth coach before taking up a role as head of coach education and development in Singapore.

He has been back in the UK for Christmas and will be staying until the weekend to attend the game at Anfield. Having enjoyed a long playing career, he is a regular sounding board for Sonny, who joined United when he was seven.

"My dad's always been the one who's been giving me advice throughout and his thoughts and you take that and do it because he's been through it. He knows what I'm going through," he said.

"I think there's not that much advice you can give me against Liverpool, except making sure I'm doing all the right things leading up to the game, so I have no excuses when it comes to it. I think that's what he's always said to me no matter how you play, you just can't have any regrets leading up to any game that you're playing, so you're leaving it all out there and making sure in your head you're prepared and ready, doing all the right things leading up to it."

Sonny credits both of his parents for the values they have instilled in him. People who have dealt with him at Stanley talk warmly of a "mature and polite" individual, and the conversations father and son have had about their respective journeys at United have focused on behaviour rather than outcomes.

"The academy and getting into a first team are two totally different things," he said, "but from his experience, he's always just told me to be a good person and have good values and morals, and I think at the end of the day, you are still a human and the football side can always develop, but if you're not a good person then it won't really get you far. They're the main things he's always taught me.

"I think he was just small, I think that's why he got released, but he's always kept those values and made sure he passed them on to me, and that's the same with my mum. Mum and dad have always made sure that I've got good values as a human first before football.

"They've never put any kind of pressure on me to be a footballer. They've always just supported whatever I wanted to do. But obviously, in the back of my mind, I've always wanted to have a career like my dad and be a footballer because that's all I've ever dreamed of and known.

"My dad had a really good career playing hundreds of games and that's what I'm aspiring to do. And hopefully, it'll be better and play maybe longer at a higher level. I can use him as kind of a benchmark to where I want to aspire to be."

Aljofree signed his first professional contract in May 2023. After 70 appearances for United's academy teams, he moved to the Crown Ground in the summer for his first taste of senior football, and he has excelled.

He believes his game has improved dramatically because of that experience and is perceptive about the differences between competitive football in the EFL and academy fixtures.

"I think adapting to the different play styles of each team, the different formations," he said. "I think every team are quite similar when it comes to the playing out and passing in Premier League 2, but the pitches in League Two and the stadiums [are different], the crowd have a part to play in it, all those different things coming into play, it changes the games and it’s about adapting to it.

"I think game management's huge in the league compared to academy football because, at the end of the day, you need the points. Every point matters, whether that's three points or you get a point out of the game by getting a clean sheet or keeping it at a draw.

"Also, being able to deal with bigger players, more stronger players than me but still finding a way to win a duel and get the better of my opponent, even though I might be physically underdeveloped compared to them at the minute. But I think the positive thing is I'm finding the ways to deal with these types of players and I've only got more to come physically as well as game understanding."

Aljofree has had regular contact from United during his loan spell, from coaches watching his games, monitoring his development, and asking how he's doing to physios offering help and advice on recovery and nutritionists checking if he needs help with food.

"They've been amazing on that side," he said. "It's not like I've gone out alone and that's me, just deal with it yourself. They've been there the whole whole time as well if I needed them."

He's been in contact with United staff since the draw handed Aljofree a trip to Anfield. The message? "Just win."

"They've told me to sure that I take it in and not just let it go by, so just as much as it is a massive experience and there'll be nerves around it, just trying to take it in and appreciating the kind of magnitude of the game that I'm hopefully going to be involved in."

Aljofree watched United's 2-2 draw at Anfield last weekend as a fan, but it was also a beneficial experience ahead of his appearance there for Stanley, as the two clubs play a back-three.

He was thankful for United earning a point and denting Liverpool's confidence, but found it particularly useful to watch the central defenders in that system against the approach of Arne Slot's team.

"United are playing a similar formation to what we play," he said, "so I was putting myself in the shoes of Yoro and De Ligt and the defenders, of what I'd be doing and picking up the little things that Liverpool do when they win the ball back or lose the ball and making sure I'm kind of manifesting what I'm going to be doing in that situation.

"It kind of put me in my head where I'd be on the pitch against those types of players, even if they don't play that same team they're going to be playing a similar style, so it was really good to watch."

Aljofree spent most of last season training with United's injury-ravaged first team and named Jonny Evans and Harry Maguire as two central defenders who were particularly helpful, although he said the whole squad had been "really good role models" to him during that time.

His aim now is to return to Old Trafford next summer a better player for his EFL experience, and he sensed the time was right at the start of this season to spread his wings.

"I've been around it and trained with them. I've had the experience with them, but I think it was just time for me to try and play first-team football," he said.

"I can't just be waiting around and hoping for an opportunity. Obviously it's great to wait around, but the longer it goes on I need to do things for myself. So I think this loan opportunity that I've managed to get has been the best thing for me. I don't have any regrets with it."

Next weekend it will be back to League Two and a home game against Notts County, but on Saturday, Aljofree and his teammates will hope the FA Cup can sprinkle some of its magic on Anfield.