True, but those players were exceptional and that was a different era anyway. Spearing and Shelvey benefited from going on loan and, elsewhere in the Premier League, so have Wilshere, Sturridge and Welbeck.
The part in bold is rubbish, it's got nothing to do with era. If your good enough, your good enough.
Our youth team won the FA youth cup a few years back now. The only player to have come through that team and make the fringes of the first team (only till recent has he started playing more regularly) is Jay Spearing.
This was when those players you have all mentioned were playing for the youth teams. We won the cup that year and made most of those teams look average.
Spearing was in the reserves for a long while after that, went out on loan and only really got a game under Dalglish.
We also had a player called Adam Hammill (now at Wolves) he WAS good enough. A skill full winger the likes of which we've never really seen come threw our academy. Never even got a look in and was probably the best player out of the entire team that won the cup. Went of on loan to championship clubs, moved on, now at Wolves.
I see that as a huge disappointment and opportunity missed by Liverpool.
Our youth team hasn't reached those heights since, but the individual players are much much much much better.
If you are good enough, your good enough. It's all well and saying "They need time, they need to go on loan, they need games in the reserves" none of this was relevant to. Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard, Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Alan Shearer, Messi, Brazilian Ronaldo, Portugal Ronaldo, Ronaldinho.
You can say it was a different era all you like, these players were thrown in young and all turned into some of the finest footballers of this generation. None of these would have been where they are today, had they slugged it out in mediocre reserve team football or on loan to several 1st division clubs. It doesn't work like that. I can understand 1 loan out, 2 maximum, but the majority of the time it's more than that, even extensions to loans. They ain't got a chance the moment they start getting loaned out like that.
We're seeing it now with a few youngsters at Liverpool being loaned out. Namely David Amoo and Daniel Ayala etc etc