ADAM Lewis isn’t giving up on his dream of playing for Liverpool and hopes that Newport County AFC can help him achieve it.
The left-back is spending the season at Rodney Parade, the latest loan spell on a CV that also features Amiens in France, Plymouth and Livingston in Scotland.
At 23 and playing in the fourth tier, it might seem a long shot for Lewis to make the grade at Anfield in the Premier League and Champions League.
However, the Scouser still hopes of adding to the solitary appearance he has made for the Reds, against Shrewsbury Town almost three years ago in the FA Cup.
“I still have two years left on my contract with them,” said Lewis. “Liverpool will always be in my heart – I grew up supporting them, living there, playing for them and I don’t know any different really.
“Coming to Newport and being on loan previously has helped me massively. I always think I’ve got a chance of playing for Liverpool, of course.
“But it’s a massive team, one of the best in the world, and I am competing against Andy Robertson, who is arguably the best left-back in the world at the moment.”
Lewis isn’t out of Liverpool’s thoughts and is in frequent contact with the club’s loan manager David Woodfine.
The Reds will have seen that their prospect, like midfielder Jake Cain last season, is profiting from swapping under-23s football for the rough and tumble of League Two and the realisation about what results mean to a community.
“Coming on loan has helped me massively and boosted my confidence,” said Lewis. “I am playing games and before I first went out on loan I thought that I was ready to go to the Championship level.
“When I dropped down to League One [with Plymouth] I thought ‘bloody hell, this is tough’. You don’t realise how hard it is.
“You have to win games whereas with Liverpool Under-23s you can get beaten really – it’s not as important as when fighting to stay up.
“There are lads fighting for money and contracts and that makes me realise how important it is to win games for the fans who pay good money to watch us after working all week.
“The lads have been top since I walked through the door and I hope to finish the season strongly and get as many games as I can in.”
Lewis started out as a winger but is now thriving as a left wing-back for County; he might enjoy bombing forward but he loves a sliding tackle and a 50/50.
“That’s the player I am – they say Scousers never pull out of tackles! I’ve got to show the fans and the manager that I am here to keep my place,” said Lewis, whose return after a hamstring injury has allowed Coughlan to move Aaron Lewis to midfield.
“Doing stuff like that is a big part of my game and I remember the very first minute of the Portsmouth game I went in for a tackle, won it and it got the fans going.
“The atmosphere can build from that, which helps us as a team. I will give everything, that’s the way I am.”
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