VIMAL Yoganathan looks set to spend his final hours as a teenager playing against the club where he spent almost a decade as a youth player.
The Welsh midfielder linked up the Liverpool academy at the age of six after starting to play football at Prestatyn Town.
He was released aged 15 and, after a brief spell with Burnley, joined Barnsley and progressed from under 16 level to the first team for whom he has made 39 appearances including ten league starts this season.
Yoganathan was often a ballboy at Anfield when in the youth system but is hoping to play there for the first time on Monday before celebrating his 20th birthday the next day.
He told the Chronicle: “It’s a big week for me. Hopefully I will get an early birthday present.
“I didn’t watch the draw but all of a sudden I saw on my phone that we had drawn Liverpool and I was like ‘woah’.
“Reality sank in that I would be playing at Anfield soon.
“I ballboyed a lot of games there.
“I was fortunate enough to watch big games in the Champions League.
“When Liverpool played Everton in the derby and Divock Origi scored that mad goal right at the end, I was really close to it and it was mental. I know what the atmosphere will be like because I’ve been there since I was young.”
Yoganathan played in the same year in the academy as Jayden Danns and Lewis Koumas who have made their first team debuts for Liverpool. He said: “It’s given me the base to help me kick on in my career. It helped me technically and we were doing tactical stuff from about 13.
“But being a good human was ingrained into us as well and making sure you are professional, we learned about diet and nutrition when we were really young.
“It was painful when I was released but the coach who released me told me to bounce back, find a club and kick on.
“They thought I would have a better pathway somewhere else.
“It’s worked out for the better, I guess.
“I am doing alright for Barnsley especially this season.”
Vimal is hoping to put the emotion of returning to his boyhood club to one side and focus on helping Barnsley cause a huge FA Cup upset. He played at Old Trafford in the EFL Cup last season then at Wembley in front of more than 50,000 fans as loan club Oldham won the National League play-off final.
“It’s a big game in front of us.
“Everyone wants to play and it’s exciting. We are just looking forward to it and making sure we prepare well.
“Liverpool will be a good team if they play youngsters or big names, but the main focus is on ourselves.
“It’s just about putting ourselves in the best position we can be.
“The big games I’ve played in will help me deal with the nerves better.”
Yoganathan has been involved all season with Conor Hourihane’s first team who are currently 17th in League One, just two points clear of the relegation zone. He said: “I was in quite a tough period at Oldham, at a similar time and we hadn’t won for a while.
“I know it can change really quickly.
“It’s about not letting heads go too far down, staying together, not letting the changing room split. Training has been brilliant, the work ethic and standards haven’t dropped. Hopefully it will click because we’re doing the right things.
“We have faith in the gaffer and faith in all the players around us.”
