Inside Neil Critchley's Hearts overhaul as Yan Dhanda lifts the lid on his Liverpool mentor

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.

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