Toni Silva was once regarded as one of the brightest talents in Liverpool's academy, a quick, direct winger tipped to go all the way at Anfield.

Unfortunately for Silva, it never happened. Silva left Merseyside without making a single senior appearance, and the years since have taken him across three continents, with his time in Red now a distant memory.

Now 33, he has looked back on his time at the club in an interview with Portuguese newspaper A Bola, and he has not held back, taking aim at one of the most successful graduates of his era.

Toni Silva's career after Liverpool

Silva arrived from Benfica in 2009 after a move to Chelsea collapsed, signing professional terms two years later. He left on a free transfer to Barnsley in 2012, following a loan spell at Northampton Town, having never featured for the first team despite a spell in Liverpool's reserves.

Having suffered a serious knee injury, compounded by the loss of his mother, his progress was derailed, and it led to a remarkable career journey, spanning numerous countries across Europe and Africa.

He featured in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, South Africa, Egypt, Romania, Kazakhstan and Malta, as well as winning 22 caps for Guinea-Bissau. His latest venture has taken him back to Portugal, as he recently signed for third-tier side, Sacavenense.

Silva's claims about Liverpool and Raheem Sterling

Silva insisted he was among the academy's top scorers, trained with the first team and featured in friendlies, but never got the same chance as the club favoured English prospects.

"I trained for three or four months with the first team and played with the reserves," Silva told A Bola. "I even played friendlies for the first team, but they didn’t give me opportunities.

"Liverpool looked more at young players with English passports, and I felt wronged," he added. "I was one of the best players in the academy, I was always among the top scorers, and I saw they were mainly looking at the English players.

"Liverpool wanted me to sign for another three years, but I didn’t want to renew because I thought I would continue in the B team. I was much better than Sterling."

Silva concluded: "He even gave an interview saying that when he arrived at Liverpool, the directors told him he had a lot to learn from me, especially in terms of finishing."

Remarkably, Raheem Sterling mentioned Silva when speaking to Squawka in 2018 when asked about his confidence in front of goal: "I remember being coached at Liverpool and there was another kid called Toni Silva, and they said 'you know, instead of blasting the ball, and it goes in, do like Toni does, pass it around the keeper'."

Sterling's nine Premier League goals and five assists in the 2013/14 season thrust him into stardom as he nearly helped deliver the Reds' first league title for decades. He later took that finishing advice to heart, scoring 131 goals for Manchester City and becoming one of the most prolific forwards of Pep Guardiola's career.

His rise was also the exception. It took until Trent Alexander-Arnold's emergence in 2017 for Anfield to find its next homegrown star and, despite Silva's claims, breaking through was a nearly impossible job. No academy player post-Steven Gerrard managed 100 appearances until the right-back emerged under Jürgen Klopp.

Sterling, at 31, currently finds himself facing police charges for a driving incident and is also club less, having officially left Chelsea earlier this year. A loan spell at Feyenoord failed to catch fire, and he remains one of the biggest names on the free agent list.