Rafa Benitez was the man who changed how things operated within the Liverpool Football Club academy.

That is according to Huddersfield Town's head of football operations Stuart Webber who worked with the Spaniard when he was director of recruitment for the Anfield club.

Webber, now 31, was responsible for the overall strategy on players aged 19 and under, working with the likes of Damien Comolli and Frank McParland on Liverpool's recruitment.

During that time the club signed Raheem Sterling, among others, and Webber will always remember the opportunity he was given by now Newcastle United boss Benitez that has allowed him to flourish in his own career with the Championship's current league leaders.

"A little bit," he told Tribalfootball when asked if he worked with any Liverpool greats.

"When I first got there it was Rafa. He changed the academy by bringing Frank in to run it which led to me coming in.

"So I'll always be grateful for that decision.

"A lot of people forget this but when the club signed Raheem (from Queens Park Rangers), Rafa was still the manager.

"He had to sanction it because it was a lot of money and it wasn't coming out of the academy budget so he had to sign off on it.

"He trusted us that we were going to bring in a player to help us in the future."

Although Sterling ended up at Manchester City, he certainly made a name for himself at Liverpool, indicating that Webber and his team were correct in their judgement.

Webber then got the chance to work briefly under Roy Hodgson but the former England boss' short tenure on Merseyside did not warrant many opportunities.

He added: "Then Roy Hodgson became the manager but Roy wasn't there long enough to get involved with the academy.

"He would come and watch the odd game.

"But from day one Roy was under pressure so I understand he didn't have the time for the academy."