Portuguese spent last year on loan at Brentford.
Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard has claimed that it was only a matter of time before young midfielder Joao Carlos Teixeira broke into the Merseyside giants’ first team, according to reports in the Daily Mail.
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The Portugal Under-21 international came on as a late substitute in Wednesday evening’s dramatic 3-2 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League for what was the 21-year-old’s Reds debut.
And Gerrard says that he is not surprised by Teixeira’s rapid rise: “I watched this kid a couple of years ago playing for Sporting Lisbon against Liverpool at Anfield in a youth game; I could see straight away he was the best player on the pitch.
“Credit to him, he has kept working hard. He has been invited to train with the first team. He is competing, he is trying to improve and learn.
“He listens – I’ve just been speaking to him in the dressing room and you can see he wants to learn and listen.
“He has got respect for the other players in the dressing room. This is the start for him now; I’ve just told him that he needs to push on, keep learning and building on what he has just achieved.
“He deserved his debut and he made a special tackle which helped us get over the line.”