Steve Cooper shattered Liverpool youngster's dream before he became global superstar

The managerial merry-go-round is going to be very busy this summer. Having dispensed with the services of Mauricio Pochettino, Chelsea poached Enzo Maresca from Leicester City.

The Foxes spent 2023/24 in the Championship, though the Italian was able to guide them back to the Premier League at the first time of asking. Leicester have replaced Maresca with someone who has experience of managing in the English top flight, something which cannot be said about the new Chelsea boss.

The man in question is Steve Cooper. He was previously manager of Nottingham Forest, though earlier in his career he was a youth coach at Liverpool, taking charge of various age levels from under-12s through to under-18s. It was during his time with the Reds that Cooper shattered the dreams of a youngster who has since gone on to be internationally renowned.

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The fixtures for 2024/25 were recently revealed. Liverpool will not face Cooper’s Leicester side in the league until Boxing Day. He has faced the Reds four times before, collecting one win and three defeats with Forest.

The Foxes will visit Anfield the day after Christmas, just as they did in the first part-season after Jürgen Klopp had taken charge in 2015. The return fixture at the King Power Stadium is scheduled for April 19, a potentially easier fixture for Liverpool before a trio of games against Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Cooper likely will be too busy trying to keep Leicester up this season to reflect too deeply on his time with Liverpool. However, it was revealed last season that he dashed the hopes of a young Paul Mullin during his time with the club, the now-Wrexham striker who has risen to fame since the club was taken over by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

Born in Litherland, Merseyside, Mullin spent time on the books of both Everton and Liverpool at youth level, though he is a fan of the latter. He was released by the Reds when 16 years old, later beginning his senior career at Huddersfield, and he wrote about the experience in his autobiography, My Wrexham Story.

“The coach who told me Liverpool were letting me go was Steve Cooper, who would later go on to take Nottingham Forest into the Premier League,” Mullin wrote (via Goal). “He’d played me at left-back again and again. Mum wasn’t impressed with his news. On the way out she turned to Cooper. ‘You’ll regret it,’ she told him. ‘You’ll end up buying him back.’ ‘I hope I do,’ he said. ‘You will,’ she replied.”

A transfer leading to a reunion hasn’t happened yet, and likely never will. Mullin has built a solid career, though, being voted as Wrexham’s Player of the Season for each of the last three campaigns, and becoming a global star under the club's Hollywood owners.

Liverpool.com says: Delivering heartbreaking news to youngsters is an unfortunate part of the job when you're a youth team coach. There was unlikely to have been anything personal between Cooper and Mullin, it's just how things go. He has certainly bounced back from his early setback.