Yan Dhanda insists Neil Critchley set him on the path to a career in professional football.
And the playmaker is convinced his old Liverpool mentor can now get Hearts back on course in the Premiership too. Dhanda spent four years playing for Critchley in the Liverpool academy alongside household names including Trent Alexander-Arnold and Rhian Brewster. Now they’ve been reunited in Gorgie. And the former Swansea and Ross County midfielder said: “I went to Liverpool when I was 14 and left at 19. For probably four out of the five years I was there, I worked with the gaffer. I moved up to his under-18 team when I was 16, then when I moved up to under-23, so did he.
“Our team was Trent, me, Herbie Kane, George Johnston, Rhian Brewster, Ben Woodburn, who was here at Hearts, Connor Masterson. He improved me massively, helped me on and off the pitch, he helped me turn from a kid into a man. It’s perfect to have someone like him here who really cares about his players.
“He’s someone who stood by me, believed in me. I played a lot of games under him, scored goals and really enjoyed football under him. Tactically he really helped me, especially going from academy football to Swansea and into a men’s game, he helped me tactically with positioning and attacking positioning, defensive positioning, transition positioning.
“I was saying to the young lads here, he’s someone you would want to be a gaffer because he really cares for young players and wants to improve everyone.
“The whole time I played under him, we played 4-3-3. Very attacking football. I played off the left most of the time. Obviously, I can play on the left and right and 10, but predominantly with him I played on the left.
“Very attacking, high-press, you have to have a lot of energy, you have to be willing to work hard, run forward, run back, not just the front players but the defence have to get forward, the forwards have to work back.
“It’s a real collective in terms of on the pitch. Everyone has to defend, everyone has to attack and be involved and the forwards are attacking, the defence have to be up on the game, ready to squeeze it and likewise, if the defence need help, then everyone has to get back and help the defenders defend.
“Training is tough, very tough. Like I said, you have to be fit to play in these teams and during the week, you’re training very hard.”