BY this time next year, Ryan McLaughlin hopes to have achieved two major goals in his career as a professional footballer.
The 20-year-old west Belfast man aims to have made his competitive debut with Liverpool and played in a major finals with Northern Ireland.
Both goals are well within his grasp.
Speaking at Gymco’s Local Ambassadors launch, McLaughlin explained how he wants to put an injury-plagued year behind him and establish himself at club and international level.
After a successful loan spell at Barnsley in the 2013/14 season, McLaughlin returned to Anfield for the start of last season but a nagging groin injury derailed his campaign.
“I would come come back and play three games and hurt my groin again,” he said.
“That was happening constantly throughout last season and I ended up playing 11 or 12 league games all season.”
The worst thing can happen to a young footballer trying to make his way at a big club is injury.
Last season, McLaughlin says, was one of the most challenging since he signed for the famous Merseyside club in 2011.
“People just see you running out at 3 o’clock on a Saturday afternoon, and it obviously has its rewards,” the Andersonstown Road native said.
“Stress-wise, it can be very demanding on you. Last season was tough because I kept getting injured – and people were asking me: ‘When are you getting in the first team?’.
“You’re trying to get there but the stress levels are massive.”
He added: “People say it’s a secure job, but it’s only secure playing at the top and playing in the Premier League week in, week out.
“But if you’re playing in the lower leagues it can be very demanding, very stressful because at that level you only get two-year deals and you could be moving from one end of the country to the other and that means uprooting your family.
“At the end of the day, you retire at 35. But in saying that I wouldn’t change it for the world. I love it. Not many people can say they love the job they’re doing.
“I love Liverpool. I love living there. It’s just the injuries last season haven’t been great.”
McLaughlin spent several seasons with Grosvenor Youth and Lisburn Youth before moving to Irish League club Glenavon and on to Liverpool.
He’s been a regular trainer with the club’s first team but has yet to make his competitive debut.
But if he stays injury-free, there’s every possibility boss Brendan Rodgers will give him his chance.
“It’s very rare the first team manager would know the academy players’ names,” McLaughlin explained. “[But] Brendan Rodgers knows all the players’ names because he used to coach at that level himself.
“When players move up to train with the first team he needs to know everything about them – their strengths and weaknesses.
“For every player coming through at Liverpool it’s great to be able to say that the manager knows everything about your game, and he gives you good feedback after training. I think he’s a very good man-manager and developing players.”
When he first began training with the Anfield club’s first team, McLaughlin admitted pinching himself after the sessions were over.
“It was unbelievable training with the likes of [Steven] Gerrard and [Luis] Suarez. You don’t think much about it at the time but you think after it: ‘I used to watch these players on TV and I’m coming from Andytown!'
"You’re watching them and five years later you’re training with them. It’s mad.”
“They’re just normal people but with brilliant ability and talent. When you train with those kind of players you’re only going to get better. It’s a great experience and you actually get to know them. They’re just normal fellas.”
McLaughlin’s task of breaking into Rodgers’s first team in the coming season has been made more difficult after the club signed Southampton right back Nathaniel Clyne yesterday for £12.5m.
Asked about his targets for the season ahead, McLaughlin said: “I’ll give you the dream scenario first. I want to get a good pre-season under my belt and make my competitive debut.
“I’ve played in friendlies but you want to break into Liverpool’s first team. And on the international stage, I’d love for Northern Ireland to qualify for France [Euro 2016]. That would be the perfect scenario.
“But, realistically, I just want to get first team football. I’ll sit down after pre-season and see how that goes and to get into the Northern Ireland team I’d want to be playing some first team football.”
Due to persistent injury, McLaughlin was on the fringes of Michael O’Neill’s Northern Ireland squad last season.
He’s played three times for the senior team – against Uruguay, Chile and more recently Scotland.
If the north can beat group opponents Faroe Islands and Hungary in September they will qualify for their first major finals since the 1986 World Cup.
And McLaughlin plans to be part of it.
“Everyone likes Michael O’Neill; he’s very honest. Everyone wants to play for him. Motivation-wise, he’s very good as well. You want to do well for him and the big thing is the players want to do well for each other.
"We have that chance of reaching France. It’s reached the stage where everyone expects us to qualify. But that’s the pressure you want because to be a top player you’re going to be put under that pressure. We want to be part of the European finals. The training will get more competitive because the players that aren’t playing will want to get in, so it creates a competitive environment.”
McLaughlin agreed to be part of Gymco's Local Ambassadors initiative that celebrates sportspeople who have achieved great things in their field.
Gymco spokesman Paddy Cunningham said: "We thought the Gymco's Local Ambassadors was a good way of acknowledging local talent, such as Ryan, and to show young people what can be achieved through hard work and dedication."
Rugby's Stephen Ferris, Camogie's Jane Adams, Handball's Aisling Reilly, hurling's Neil McManus, Gaelic football's Kieran Hughes and Mattie Donnelly, soccer's Andy Waterworth and local tennis star Lynsey McCullough are Gymco's other Local Ambassadors.
